Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

TV station owner in court

Updated at 8:42 pm on 2 September 2012

A television channel owner in Egypt appeared in court on Saturday on a charge of calling for the murder of the President Mohamed Mursi.

Tawfiq Okasha has denied incitement to murder.

The al-Faraeen channel was ordered off the air last month after a programme critical of Mr Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood that backs him.

"I merely criticised President Mursi," Mr Ukasha told judges in Cairo on Saturday.

The BBC reports his trial has been adjourned until 3 October.

Mr Ukasha is seen as a supporter of the military. He says the Muslim Brotherhood, wants to silence all dissent.

Defence lawyer Mohammed Talat says Egypt's history of oppression is repeating itself.

Islam Afifi, the editor of an opposition newspaper, has also been charged with insulting Mr Mursi.

The 11 August edition of al-Dustour was seized after a court order.

The United States has described the prosecutions of Mr Ukasha and Mr Afifi as running counter to the spirit of last year's revolution.

Commentators in Egypt say that Mr Mursi and the Brotherhood are now resorting to tactics employed to great effect by President Hosni Mubarak.

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