Cairo - The Egyptian Higher Council for Media Regulation (HCMR) expressed thanks to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmed El-Tayeb for responding to the council's request to suspend a TV commercial depicting the shortage and contamination of drinking water in Upper Egypt. In a statement published on Thursday, the council said the commercial aired on some TV channels aiming to tarnish Egypt's image and undermine efforts exerted by the state to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water to the needy in Upper Egypt. The Sudanese government had decided not to import vegetables grown in Egypt after the broadcast of this commercial under the pretext that these vegetables are irrigated with sewage water, the council added. A controversial commercial, in which actress Dalal Abdel Azizi was in, had caused public outrage after filming a poor woman from Upper Egypt suffering from hardships of polluted water in her village.
