Egypt’s Coptic Pope Shnouda III attacked sensationalism in the press on Tuesday, while expressing “pride” at the press association and government's stance on a crisis that erupted over a tabloid story about an allegedly lusty monk.
Al Ahram Arabic daily said the pope’s remarks came at a meeting with the association’s council in Alexandria.
The pope praised the union for “taking all the measures allowed by its by-laws to punish the editors” of Al Nabaa weekly and its daily sister publication Akher Khabar.
Pope Shnouda also said he had filed a libel suit against the newspaper.
For his part, the head of the press association, Ibrahim Nafe', said that the investigations proved the guilt of Al Nabaa’s editor, Mamdouh Mahran, and that his union membership had been suspended.
Meanwhile, the state prosecutor released Mahran on an EP10,000 bail, a decision the pope described as “within the law.”
On Tuesday, however, BBC Online reported that the Egyptian state news agency MENA had retracted a statement saying the government had closed down the newspaper.
In what correspondents say is an unprecedented retraction, the agency said the report, which had directly quoted the Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, was wrong and based on a misunderstanding of Ebeid's statement.
Publication of the pictures has led to violent protests by Coptic Christians in Egypt, who say it was an insult to their faith – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
