CAIRO — The final court ruling on the case related to the closure of Shiite media outlets and websites has been repeatedly delayed. In October 2016, lawyer Samir Sabri filed a lawsuit before the Second Circuit of the Administrative Judiciary Court, demanding that Shiite media outlets and websites be shut down in Egypt. The court decided Jan. 15 to postpone the examination of the case until Feb. 19, for the completion of procedures.
On Oct. 10, Egyptian newspapers quoted Sabri as saying, “It is unacceptable and unreasonable to have a media platform in Egypt promoting Shiite ideology. Egypt is an Islamic state and the main source of legislation is Sharia under the constitution, which recognizes Christianity and Judaism to be monotheistic. El-Nafis is one of the news websites inciting against Saudi Arabia, Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf, where Ahmad Rasem al-Nafis attacks in his articles the Sunnis and Saudi Arabia and calls for professing the Shiite faith.”