Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq’s campaign staffers confiscated tapes of an interview that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) conducted with him Saturday night. Shafiq had the tapes confiscated because he objected to questions he was asked regarding the ruling military council.
Mahmoud Abou Bakr, a journalist in the Cairo Bureau of the BBC, said in a statement that as soon as the 40-minute-interview conducted by BBC chief correspondent Khaled Ezz El Arab was over, Shafiq’s campaigners prevented the crew from leaving his house before they handed over the tapes.
According to the statement, Shafiq said that he was the only one who can decide whether the interview should be aired, as he watched the argument between the journalists and his campaigners who insisted on canceling the interview or editing out parts that they said “affect their candidate negatively.”
The statement specifies that the campaigners were especially upset by questions regarding the Mubarak-era minister’s opinion on the fallen president and his views on the future of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who is currently the de-facto ruler of Egypt until presidential elections take place in June.
Shafiq, who holds the title of major general, held leadership positions in Egypt’s military during Mubarak’s rule and served as minister of civil aviation since 2002. He was appointed prime minister following the sacking of Ahmed Nazif’s cabinet in the early days of the 25 January revolution but resigned in March after large protests were staged demanding his departure.
Since he announced his bid for presidency last month, journalists have been putting Shafiq on the spot with questions about his military liaisons. Shafiq was visibly perplexed when television host Amr Adib asked him recently whether Mubarak had asked him not to replace Tantawi as Defense Minister when he was appointed prime minister in January.
Abou Bakr refused to answer Egypt Independent’s inquiries regarding the BBC’s planned course of action in response to the hijacking of the tapes.
