海角大神

A private Egyptian TV station stopped the airing of the latest episode of a widely popular political satire program Friday after it came under fire for mocking the ultranationalist, pro-military fervor gripping the country.

CBC announced the program by聽Bassem聽Youssef, often compared to US comedian Jon Stewart, would not be shown because the satirist and his producer violated its editorial policies. The announcement came just minutes before聽Youssef's聽show "El-Bernameg," or "The Program" in Arabic, was to air Friday night.

A broadcaster read a statement issued by the station's board of directors saying that聽Youssef聽and the producer "insist on continuing to not commit to the editorial policy" of CBC, which he said are part of the contract.

The pre-recorded weekly program returned to air last week after a four-month hiatus that happened as Egypt's military toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after massive protests against his government.聽Youssef聽often mocked Morsi on the program, galvanizing public disenchantment with the leader.

His show last week strongly mocked the military fever now gripping Egypt, and poked fun at military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Military supporters immediately filed legal complaints against the show.

CBC, whose programming largely supported the coup, distanced itself from the program's content. The channel said after the first show that it supports national sentiment and is "keen on not using phrases and innuendos that may lead to mocking national sentiment or symbols of the Egyptian state." It did, however, say at the time it was committed to freedom of expression. But the statement appeared to lay blame for any criticism of the show on聽Youssef聽and serve as a warning to the satirist.

In the episode that was to be aired Friday,聽Youssef聽has a comeback. He spent a large segment of the program mocking CBC, as well as its editorial policies, the statement it put out against his last program and its choice of soap operas, those who watched the pre-recorded episode said. It also made fun of other media outlets, but hardly mentioned the government or the military.

Critics of聽Youssef聽staged a protest outside the theater where he was recording his program Wednesday and scuffled with his supporters. Riot police broke up the crowd.

Egypt's prosecutors launched investigations into complaints about聽Youssef's聽show, including accusations he disrupted public order and mocked Egypt and its military leaders.聽Youssef聽had been subjected to similar litigation when Morsi was in power. Morsi's supporters had filed complaints about his program, accusing him of insulting the president and Islam, leading to him once being briefly detained.

On Friday, the station's statement said after reviewing the content of last week's episode, it deemed the program violated its instructions.

"After the angry reaction following the last episode, we notified the presenter and producer of the program on the need to abide by the guidelines in the statement" issued earlier, it said. The station also said that聽Youssef聽violated financial commitments, failed to live to his commitments in the first season and demanded more money.

The suspension provoked immediate angry reaction, mostly directed at CBC. One group鈥� the June 30 Front 鈥� called for a boycott of the station, hailing聽Youssef聽as a "dreamer of freedom" who puts a smile on the face of Egyptians. Others criticized the new sense of fear about expressing opinions in Egypt that run counter to the military.

Mohammed ElBaradei, prominent democracy advocate who served briefly as vice president in the post-Morsi government, sided with聽Youssef聽and lamented violation of freedom of expression.

"If (freedom of expression) is limited to those we agree with, it is an empty slogan. The courage is in defending it not repressing. Salute and appreciation to聽Youssef," he wrote on his Twitter account.

Youssef聽had had disputes with the station before. In his first episode after joining the station at the height of the Morsi rule,聽Youssef聽mocked it for being stacked with former supporters of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. He also made fun of its claims of having revolutionary credentials.

Youssef聽angered one of the station's star broadcasters so much that the broadcaster threatened to take legal action against him. The station didn't air the following episode, though the show returned a week later.

Youssef聽left Egypt to the United Arab Emirates on Friday hours before the show's suspension. It was not clear if he was in the Gulf state on a business or private trip.