Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media summons Al Hayah representative over Karim Shehata programme

Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media has summoned the legal representative of Al Hayah channel for a hearing over alleged violations of media codes during an episode of Kora Kol Youm, presented by Karim Hassan Shehata.

The decision relates to the programme’s episode broadcast on 29 August, in which Shehata discussed referee Mohamed Marouf’s handling of the league match between Al Ahly and ZED FC.

The council said the summons followed findings by its General Monitoring Department and the Committee for Regulating Sports Media Performance. Its Complaints Committee decided to call in Al Hayah’s legal representative because the episode contained breaches of the media codes.

In a statement, the Supreme Council for Media said: “Based on the findings of the work of the General Administration of Monitoring at the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, and the Committee for Regulating the Performance of Sports Media, the Complaints Committee decided to summon the legal representative of Al Hayah because the episode of the programme ‘Kora Kol Youm’, dated 29 August, contained violations of the media codes.”

During the programme, Shehata claimed that Mohamed Marouf, who refereed Al Ahly’s match against ZED FC, had asked Wael Gomaa, Al Ahly’s football director, to replace Ali Mahmoud, a first-team player.

Shehata said Marouf had made the request after Mahmoud received a first yellow card. According to the presenter, the referee told Gomaa: “I won’t be able to protect him again.”

The incident was discussed in the context of Al Ahly’s 2-0 victory over ZED FC in the second week of the league competition.

Al Ahly are joint top of the league with Pyramids FC, Tala’ea El Gaish and Al Masry, with each club having collected six points. ZED FC are 16th with one point after one draw and one defeat.

The council’s action concerns the content broadcast on the channel rather than the result of the match. The legal representative of Al Hayah is due to attend a hearing before the relevant committee to respond to the alleged breaches connected with the programme.

The summons follows the monitoring of the episode by the Supreme Council for Media’s departments responsible for reviewing media content and sports coverage. It centres on the claims made about the conversation involving Mohamed Marouf and Wael Gomaa, as well as the reported request concerning Ali Mahmoud after his booking.

Al Ahly’s win left them level on six points with Pyramids FC, Tala’ea El Gaish and Al Masry after two rounds of league fixtures. ZED FC’s single point came from a draw, while their other match ended in defeat.