CAIRO - Weeks after her return to Egypt after a self-exile of four years, Hala Sarhan finds herself at the centre of a new court battle. Nicknamed Egypt's Oprah Winfrey, Sarhan is preparing for the launch of the new show "Revolution of the Dialogue", a programme apparently inspired by the January 25 revolution, which toppled the regime of president Hosni Mubarak. The programme, to be shown on the Saudi-owned Rotana TV, is being publicized on street billboards across Cairo. Sarhan is portrayed clad in fatigues on these billboards, an appearance slammed by her detractors as a bid to endear herself to Egyptian revolutionaries and the military rulers. Many fans have been happy about the TV comeback of Sarhan, known for controversial programmes. Lawyer Nabih el-Wahsh is not one of those fans, though. He has recently filed a complaint with the nation's Prosecutor-General demanding that Sarhan be banned for appearing on different TV channels. He added that Sarhan should be first cleared in investigations about an episode in a programme she hosted on Rotana four years ago in which she hosted girls allegedly posing as prostitutes. "This episode on her "Halla Show" did damage to Egypt's name," said el-Wahesh in his complaint. "The public should first learn about the findings of investigations into this episode," he added. At the time, Sarhan came under fire in the local media and outraged Egyptian conservatives for hosting those girls, some of which later appeared on other TV stations claiming that they had been hired to pose as hookers. Sarhan, who spent the past four years in the thriving emirate of Dubai, claimed in recent press remarks that she was the victim of tricks from officials linked to the former regime.
