(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130102-bassem-egypt-420a.photoblog600.jpg)Ahmed Omar / AP, fileTV host Bassem Youssef addresses attendants at a dinner party in Cairo on Dec. 8. Prosecutors launched an investigation Tuesday against Youssef for allegedly insulting the president.By NBC News wire servicesEgyptian prosecutors launched an investigation Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.
Lawyer Ramadan Abdel-Hamid Oqsori charged that TV host Bassem Youssef insulted President Mohammed Morsi by putting the leader's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches.
Youssef's case will increase worries about freedom of speech in the post-Hosni Mubarak era, especially when the country's new constitution includes provisions criticized by rights activists for, among other things, forbidding insults.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (https://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld)In a separate case that fuels concern about press freedom, one of Egypt's leading independent newspapers said it was being investigated by the prosecutor following a complaint from the presidency, which accused it of publishing false news.
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