Director Daniel el-Haiby told The Daily Star that his agency is investigating whether the Ramadan series “Hobout Idtirari,” broadcast on local station MTV, was shot while the plane was in flight or on the ground. “We are investigating this issue. I don’t want to pre-empt the investigation, but if [the allegations turn out to be true] and there were mistakes, measures will be taken,” Haiby said. “We’ll have to see, because their report says that all the acting was on the ground, and not in the air.” The aim of the prank show is to scare famous personalities into believing that the plane is crashing. The series is hosted by Egyptian Actor Hani Ramzi using aircraft operated by Wings of Lebanon, a private charter airline. Haiby emphasized that the Directorate General was not jumping to any conclusions and was waiting for results from technical committees examining the issue. He said that if any measures are to be taken, they must be based on accurate information. The Directorate released a statement Monday explaining that Wings of Lebanon had requested permission from the agency to carry out trips above Lebanon, “with the aim of directing a TV film for the MTV station, and attached to this request approvals they had received from several official parties concerned with the issue.” Permission was given based on the company’s request to shoot a TV program while in a plane. “However, after the broadcast of episodes of this TV series during the holy month of Ramadan, it turned out that [the show] did not take into account the conditions [that were] agreed [relating to] their request,” the statement read. The Directorate said in the statement that it had contacted Wings of Lebanon for clarification, and the airline had insisted that the trips met international public safety standards and conditions. “Despite this, we [will take] all necessary measures based on applicable laws to prevent such a thing from recurring, taking into account the feelings of the viewers,” the Directorate said in its statement. A number of media outlets have speculated as to whether the plane was in flight, after scenes from the show drew strong reactions from audience members, according to the Directorate. The Daily Star was unable to immediately reach Wings of Lebanon for comment, and representatives at MTV declined to speak on the issue. The cabin crew and passengers who appear in “Hobout Idtirari” are all participants in the prank. During the trip, a series of mounting incidents target the celebrity, whose reactions are filmed as the situation becomes increasingly uncomfortable. “Today we are watching it on the TV, just like you, so we have to look into whether this happened on the ground or in the air,” Haiby said. The agency has said it will continue to investigate the issue with the parties involved, and called on them to respond to whatever measures it decides to take in the interest of preserving public safety. The Daily Star
