Renowned Egyptian satirist arrest for alleged insults

Dubbed Egypt’s Jon Stewart, Youssef has staved off numerous attacks Cairo – Arabstoday Egypt's public prosecutor on Saturday ordered the arrest of popular satirist Bassem Youssef over alleged insults to Islam and to President Mohammed Morsi, state news agency MENA reported .Judicial sources told AFP that several complaints had been filed against Youssef, whose razor sharp humour -- delivered on his weekly television programme Albernameg (The Show) -- has spared few public figures.
The complaints were filed by 12 citizens after Youssef's March 1 episode in which he mocked the president's public interview with TV anchor Amr El-Leithy in February.
Dubbed the Egyptian Jon Stewart, Youssef has repeatedly poked fun at the ruling Islamists and Morsi in particular.
The soaring number of legal complaints against journalists has cast doubt on Morsi's commitments to freedom of expression -- a key demand of the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
In January, a number of Islamist lawyers filed a lawsuit against Youssef, accusing him of "undermining the standing of the president" during his show.
However, charges were dropped before the case reached court.