CAIRO — The final court ruling on the case related to the closure of Shiite media outlets and websites has been repeatedly delayed. In October 2016, lawyer Samir Sabri filed a lawsuit before the Second Circuit of the Administrative Judiciary Court, demanding that Shiite media outlets and websites be shut down in Egypt. The court decided Jan. 15 to postpone the examination of the case until Feb. 19, for the completion of procedures.

On Oct. 10, Egyptian newspapers quoted Sabri as saying, “It is unacceptable and unreasonable to have a media platform in Egypt promoting Shiite ideology. Egypt is an Islamic state and the main source of legislation is Sharia under the constitution, which recognizes Christianity and Judaism to be monotheistic. El-Nafis is one of the news websites inciting against Saudi Arabia, Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf, where Ahmad Rasem al-Nafis attacks in his articles the Sunnis and Saudi Arabia and calls for professing the Shiite faith.”

In a Jan. 12 joint statement, a number of Salafist leaders demanded that Shiite TV stations be removed from the list of satellite channels on Nilesat, for defaming Prophet Muhammad’s companions and promoting Shiite ideology among Muslims in Egypt.

In response to Sabri’s lawsuit and Salafist statement, Ahmad Rasem al-Nafis, a Shiite activist and founder of el-Nafis website, told Al-Monitor, “The Salafist leaders’ Wahhabism was behind the dissemination of extremism in Syria and Yemen. Shiite channels and websites in Egypt do not advocate extremism or renounce any ideology or doctrine. They call for dealing with the Shiites as Muslims at a time when Salafist movements claim that Shiites are non-Muslims.”