# Shafiq campaign confiscates BBC Arabic interview



## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq’s campaign staffers confiscated tapes of an interview that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) conducted with him Saturday night. Shafiq had the tapes confiscated because he objected to questions he was asked regarding the ruling military council.
Mahmoud Abou Bakr, a journalist in the Cairo Bureau of the BBC, said in a statement that as soon as the 40-minute-interview conducted by BBC chief correspondent Khaled Ezz El Arab was over, Shafiq’s campaigners prevented the crew from leaving his house before they handed over the tapes.
According to the statement, Shafiq said that he was the only one who can decide whether the interview should be aired, as he watched the argument between the journalists and his campaigners who insisted on canceling the interview or editing out parts that they said “affect their candidate negatively.”
The statement specifies that the campaigners were especially upset by questions regarding the Mubarak-era minister’s opinion on the fallen president and his views on the future of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who is currently the de-facto ruler of Egypt until presidential elections take place in June.
Shafiq, who holds the title of major general, held leadership positions in Egypt’s military during Mubarak’s rule and served as minister of civil aviation since 2002. He was appointed prime minister following the sacking of Ahmed Nazif’s cabinet in the early days of the 25 January revolution but resigned in March after large protests were staged demanding his departure.
Since he announced his bid for presidency last month, journalists have been putting Shafiq on the spot with questions about his military liaisons. Shafiq was visibly perplexed when television host Amr Adib asked him recently whether Mubarak had asked him not to replace Tantawi as Defense Minister when he was appointed prime minister in January.
Abou Bakr refused to answer Egypt Independent’s inquiries regarding the BBC’s planned course of action in response to the hijacking of the tapes.


Shafiq campaign confiscates BBC Arabic interview | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Censorship is still alive and kicking.


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## hhaddad (Apr 14, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Censorship is still alive and kicking.


Of course it's still a third world country and nothing will change that.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

hhaddad said:


> Of course it's still a third world country and nothing will change that.


there's always ways around it 

AMAY:

"If elected president, Shafiq will promote Egypt’s de facto leader Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to a higher military post than his current one as minister of defense, said presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq.

In part of an unaired interview the BBC Arabic channel conducted with Shafiq, he told BBC chief correspondent Khaled Ezz al-Arab that “[Tantawi] would probably not be just defense minister, but in a higher military position.” He did not provide additional details.

BBC did not broadcast the interview, which was obtained by Al-Masry Al-Youm, because Shafiq’s campaign staffers, who were present for the interview, objected to certain questions about his relationship with ousted President Hosni Mubarak and confiscated the tapes.

On Sunday, the Cairo Bureau of the BBC said in a statement that as soon as the 40-minute-interview was over, Shafiq’s campaigners prevented the BBC crew from leaving his house before they handed over the tapes.

Al-Masry Al-Youm has also learned that Shafiq said Hosni Mubarak was a good military man and a patriot, but he made mistakes as a president, in response to a question about his opinion of the former President.

In October, Shafiq, a former Egyptian air force commander who briefly served as prime minister under Mubarak, said he planned to run in presidential elections."

This Shafiq guy's really a big mouth


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