EgyptAir reviews hot in-flight movies after Islamist complaint

Egypt’s national airline said on Thursday it will analyze its onboard movies to make sure they respect “Egyptian values and customs,” following a complaint by a Muslim Brotherhood member who took offence at a film screened during one of its flights.

The head of Egypt’s Shoura council caused a stir during a flight from Sudan to Egypt when he called on the plane’s staff to stop screening a movie featuring “Hot Scenes,” according to an Egyptian daily.

Ahmed Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and parliament’s upper house speaker, wanted to put a stop to the screening of the movie on the flight. However, passengers on the flight rejected his requests to do so, according to the Egyptian privately owned Arabic daily Al Masry Al Youm.

In a statement, EgyptAir said he had “expressed reservations about one of the scenes” in the movie.

The statement did not name the film, but local media identified it as “Arees Mama,” or “Mother’s Suitor,” a decades-old movie starring the Egyptian actress Nelly.

A brief verbal altercation took place during the flight between the crew and the council delegation which was resolved when the captain intervened and lifted the television screens in front of the council members.

Fahmy was on a visit to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to stress the importance of revitalizing relations between Egypt and Sudan.

The speaker claimed that Egypt’s parliamentary body had established a new committee to serve mutual Egyptian and African interests in the region, reported Arab Today.net.

In a separate statement, EgyptAir said it would form a committee to review all films shown on its flights.

Roshdy Zakaria, chief executive of the state-run company, said the committee would pull films it deemed “depart from Egyptian values and customs.”