Egypt releases anti-Islamist TV presenter

Tawfiq Okasha stands behind bars as he attends his trial Cairo – Agencies Egyptian authorities have released television presenter Tawfiq Okasha, who is on trial for incitement to kill the president and was arrested on separate charges, a security source said on Monday. Okasha, who heads his own TV channel, was arrested on Sunday for former convictions passed in absentia, after visiting a police station to check on the status of his court case for alleged incitement to kill President Mohamed Morsi.
He was notified of two six-month convictions for issuing bad cheques and one-month terms for stealing electricity, and was then released again after spending nine hours in custody, according to the security source.
At the start of his trial on September 1, Okasha denied calling for the murder of the country's Islamist president.
"I merely criticised President Morsi," Tawfiq Okasha told judges. "This is a political trial. The Muslim Brotherhood wants to silence all dissent and reproduce the system from before the revolution."
Okasha's Al-Faraeen channel, suspended on August 16, aired a show that was stridently anti-Morsi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood, the party from which the leader emanates.
The next session of his trial has been set for Wednesday.