Bassem Youssef

Bassem Youssef Bassem or Jussif (Arabic باسم يوسف, born March 22, 1974 in Cairo ) is an Egyptian heart surgeon and Politsatiriker reaching with his satirical news view Al Barnameg on Egyptian television to millions of viewers.

Life

In the wake of the Egyptian revolution Bassem Youssef invited on 8 March 2011 up his first clip on Youtube. Youssef endured the reporting of the state-run media no longer, as of 25 January, the violent protests had taken place since the beginning of the presidency of Mubarak, on February 11, the dictator was overthrown, but was claimed in a bizarre television show, the demonstrators in Tahrir space would only dance, fornicate and take drugs anyway were all Islamists. He produced initially from home satirical short films that satirized this coverage of state propaganda:

"I remember clearly how I saw the protesters on 28 January 2011, which came with the police each other. For the first time in my life have I seen such a huge crowd uniformed and armed policemen has just pushed back. However, the 18 days of the Revolution left a strange feeling for me: I thought Egypt was suffering from schizophrenia! There was the Egyptian revolutionaries in the square ... and there was television. When I went from Tahrir Square home, then TV wanted to tell: There is no revolution, it's all a conspiracy. Behind it are CIA, Mossad, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah ... and Kermit the Frog. Had they known the even him they would still poorly done. "

In his satirical exposure of the absurdities on state television Youssef oriented television formats such as Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report from the U.S. ( of which the Today show is inspired ) and quickly reached a high popularity, with an average more than 300,000 viewers per clip, some were clicked up to 17 million times. Only six months later, it took the - formed after the revolution - private television station " ONtv " Naguib Sawiris from a first station with a cultural program, under contract and he got his own TV show, The B Show. In November Youssef then moved on to independent private television station CBC and his satirical program called since Al- Barnameg, which means the program in Arabic.

Within the next two years Youssef rose to become the biggest star of the Egyptian television, millions of viewers turn on three times a week, when he presented with the stately gesture of a newscaster 's news view. The show begins with "Welcome to the program: The program ', but he does not always win over the military, politicians, state television or religious preacher, but also leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, President Mohammed Mursi came from, and the former president himself funny. Youssef, however, it 's not just about, to make fun of the rulers. "I want to hold the company and show the mirror, what culture behind it ," he said in a 2012 interview.

Although the new, pressed through an emergency procedure, Sharia Constitution of 2012 guarantees freedom of expression and the press, but this restricts the same again with the prohibition of insulting the president. And obviously puts Mursi the law so far out, that criticism of individual Muslim Brotherhood excluded. Thus arrests began as a campaign by the Muslim Brotherhood against their critics and even the much acclaimed opposition newspaper Almasry Alyoum or the office of the German Press Agency in Cairo received intimidating phone calls from the presidential office .. On March 30, 2013 ordered the Egyptian Attorney General 's arrest Youssef on. He is president insult Islam defamation and spreading false allegations that have disrupted public order, accused.

From his arrest Youssef learned from the media. From his appointment on March 31, 2013 the prosecutor he made a great event, he appeared with a silly, oversized hat, carried him as President Mursi during a visit to Pakistan, and tweeted a number of awards from the Office of the Prosecutor. After a five -hour interrogation by the prosecutor, he was ( tentatively ) set free again on bail of 15,000 Egyptian pounds (converted 1,700 euros ).

Youssef reacted calmly to the allegations. "We 're not the ones who insult Islam We only provide those only who abuse the faith and have inflicted more damage than everyone else ," he said on the night before in a television interview.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei criticized the arrest Youssef sharp. Via Twitter, he stated that you know, such an approach only " fascist regimes ". It was a sign of the uncertainty and the " wagons " mentality of the Islamist government. Since the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in power, to accumulate complaints against government critics. The Egypt - Speaker of the human rights organization Amnesty International, Diana Eltahawy, expressed concern. Within two weeks had been charged with 33 activists, bloggers and politicians. "They are legal harassment by the Egyptian authorities suspended just because they see the human rights situation under the government critically ," said Eltahawy.

Already in 2012 a court sentenced in Cairo one of the most famous actors in the Arab world, the Egyptian Adel Imam, to a fine and a three- month prison sentence for allegedly insulting Islam in a movie and one of his old plays.