Egyptian media professor remanded after accusing Cairo University head of corruption

An Egyptian mass communications professor has been remanded in custody for 15 days, pending further investigation into the alleged charges of "public slander and the terrorisation of a state-owned institution", according to his lawyer.  

Ayman Mansour Nada was arrested after Cairo University - where the academic teaches at - filed a complaint against him over the criticism of its head.

It followed "a number of articles he had posted on his Facebook page, accusing the university president Mohamed El-Khosht of corruption”, lawyer Mohamed Helmy Abdullah told The New Arab.

Khaled El-Balshy, former head of the freedoms committee at the Egyptian press syndicate, described the apprehension of Nada as "outrageous".

"The arrest of Nada is unconstitutional as the constitution dictates that there is no imprisonment pertaining to publishing crimes," Balshy told The New Arab.

"An idea is confronted by an idea; and a word is confronted by a word, not by prison."

Nada, who is also the head of the Radio and TV department at Cairo University’s Faculty of Mass Communication, is not new to controversy.

The professor - known for being supportive of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's rule - had earlier published a series of controversial articles on his Facebook page in which he fiercely criticised journalists at privately-owned Egyptian media outlets, loyal to the regime.

He described them as "rather weak, unprofessional performance" talk show hosts.