Actor wins LE100,000 in lawsuit against satellite channel

Dokki Criminal Court issued a verdict in favor of Egyptian actor Amr Waked on Wednesday against TV host Abdel Rehim Ali and advertising magnate Tarek Nour for charges of slander and libel.

The court ruled that the actor is entitled to receive LE100,000 in compensation for being wrongfully accused of involvement in torture.

Ali and Nour are to pay LE5,000 each, along with a combined compensation of another LE90,000.

Several months ago, Ali — who hosts a show titled “The Black Box” on satellite Channel Al-Qahera Wal Nas (owned by Nour) — accused Waked of complicity in torturing a protester near Tahrir Square many months previously.

The video shows Waked filming a bruised protester, who was reportedly injured near the Square. Waked, who appears to be documenting cases of physical abuse on camera, asks the bruised man questions pertaining to his injuries.

Waked was amongst the few actors and celebrities to support the January 25 Uprising in Tahrir Square against the rule of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Ali, however, claimed that Waked was interrogating the protester and was seeking to extract confessions from him, in the same manner used by some abusive police officers.

According to judicial sources cited in the Al-Bawaba News Web Portal — of which Abdel Rehim Ali is the chief editor — both Ali and Nour still have the opportunity to appeal Wednesday’s verdict.

Their defense lawyer, Samir Sabry, told Al-Bawaba that he would begin the appeals process the next day. Sabry claims that he can overturn this verdict before the appellate courts.

On his Facebook page, Waked commented that he would use LE90,000 of his compensation money to fund the parliamentary campaigns of the liberal opposition Al-Dostour Party, and the campaign team of former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi.

Amr Waked recently acted in the role of a police officer in a soap opera titled “Ahl Iskanderia” (People of Alexandria), which was due to be screened during the month of Ramadan.

However, this week Egypt’s authorities moved to prevent the screening of this series. Around the same time a Kuwaiti TV production company, which was involved with the series, pulled out from the project, citing cordial ties between the states of Egypt and Kuwait