CAIRO — Anger spread through the ranks of Egyptian parliamentarians over criticism leveled against them by Abla Fahita, the puppet star of a CBC channel program. In the program, Abla Fahita described the parliament members using terms that they considered inappropriate, leading them to submit urgent motions April 17 for the government to discipline the program. It went so far as parliament members collecting signatures for an official memorandum addressed to the prosecutor general asking to bar the program and take the channel off the air.

Abla Fahita has often criticized the conduct of the country’s parliament, with the puppet presenter of the show describing parliamentarians as “defects” in a satirical song on the program’s April 7 episode. She maintained her criticism and attack on independent member of parliament Elhami Ajina during the show’s April 14 episode, following Ajina’s statements that he would submit an urgent motion to the government requesting that the program be halted and financial penalties imposed on Abla Fahita for denigrating members of parliament and accusing them of profiteering.

Yet, Ajina told Al-Monitor that he refused to sign the memorandum drafted by parliamentarians to halt the program, saying, "Parliamentarians are public figures, the criticism of which is a given right. I asked that the issue be dealt with objectively.”

The Egyptian parliament devoted its April 18 session to discuss Abla Fahita’s criticism of parliament members, with Speaker Ali Abdul Aal attacking television programs that criticize parliamentarians, “disparage members of parliament and go beyond freedom of expression.” The same session also saw the expulsion of parliament member Safwat Ghattas after he defended Abla Fahita and got into an argument with the speaker due to him taking the floor without permission, subsequently leading to a commission of inquiry, with Aal commenting that “in many of his articles, this member of parliament has defamed and slandered parliament and its speaker.”