CAIRO: A month after its closure, Turkey-based pro-Muslim Brotherhood channel (al-Sharq) will resume broadcasts under the leadership of Ayman Nour, head of Ghad Elthawra Party, the channel announced in a Friday statement.
“After the channel went through a financial crisis in the last phase, and was exposed to attempts of blocking and frequent jamming, al-Sharq comes back with new image and administrative shift,” the statement said.
Anonymous sources told Youm7 Friday that Nour bought the channel for $250,000 from its owner Bassem Khafagy, who lives in Turkey. The official added that the broadcast will operate Tuesday.
On July 31, Muslim Brotherhood supporter Haitham Abu Khalil, who lives in Turkey, announced that the channel had halted broadcasts due to a financial crisis.
Al-Sharq was one of a number of pro-Brotherhood media outlets established since 2013 in Turkey; the channels have been accused by Cairo of inciting violence against military and security personnel.
Istanbul-based pro-Muslim Brotherhood (MB) channel, Misr Alaan, stopped broadcasting after the Turkish government put pressure on the owners, MB sources on Aug.15.
Following the dispersal of pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa and Nahda Squares Aug. 13, 2013, hundreds of MB members and supporters have been detained over charges of inciting violence, committing murders, sabotaging public utilities, and belonging to a banned group that was designated by the former interim government a “terrorist group” in December 2013.
Fleeing the Egyptian government’s crackdown, Brotherhood members and supporters travelled to Turkey, Qatar, London, and other European countries.