Image copyright Channel 2 Image caption Khadija Khattab wants viewers to judge whether she deserves to be suspended over her appearance 
 
 Egypt's state broadcaster has suspended eight of its female TV presenters and told them to go on a diet, sparking uproar among women's rights groups. 
 
 The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) has given the women one month to slim down before they can appear on air again with an "appropriate appearance", the Al-Yawm al-Sabi website reports. The ERTU has a female director, Safaa Hegazy, a former state TV anchor herself. 
 
 The announcement prompted an outcry among the affected presenters. Khadija Khattab, a host on Egypt's Channel 2, told the paper that she wants people to watch her most recent TV appearances and judge for themselves if she is really "fat", and whether she deserves to be prevented from working. Another presenter said the situation had upset their families and should have been dealt with internally. 
 
 The Women's Centre for Guidance and Legal Awareness condemned the move, saying it "violates the constitution" and is a form of violence against women. It's called on the ERTU to backtrack. Despite the criticism, ERTU sources told the Veto news website that the decision won't be reversed, but that the women won't have their pay and benefits docked. 
 
 Egyptian media commentators are debating whether the suspensions were justified. At the state-owned Al-Ahram daily, journalist Fatma al-Sharawi says she thinks the policy should be applied across local TV stations. But author and academic Waheed Abdul Majid thinks the channel should focus on improving its content rather than the appearance of the presenters. 
 
 On social media, some users voiced support for the women, but others called them "bakabouzas", a term Egyptians use to describe overweight girls. One female Twitter user described ERTU head Safaa Hegazy as a "strong woman" for making the decision. 
 
 The presenters have been defended in parliament, though, with male MP and journalist Sayyid Hegazy asking: "Who is an ideal weight in Egypt?" He told the Sada al-Balad news site that a presenter "might be a little overweight, but she is eloquent". 
 
 Image copyright ERTU Image caption Egyptian Radio and Television Union head Safaa Hegazy was once a TV presenter 
 
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 Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter. ||||| Egypt's state-run television has suspended eight of its female presenters for being overweight - telling them they can return to the air only after they go a diet. 
 
 The move sparked outrage among women's groups and members of parliament but state television authorities show no sign of backing down. 
 
 The presenters were given given one month to lose weight and told they will not be allowed back onto television until they have an "appropriate appearance", according to the Youm7 newspaper. 
 
 The decision was made by Safaa Hegazi, the female chief of Egypt's ERTU public broadcaster. 
 
 She took over the position in April on a promise to modernise Egyptian state and make it once again competitive with other major broadcasters in the Arab world. 
 
 Mrs Hegazi's order to suspend the eight women seems to have been part of this drive to overhaul her organisation's look. ||||| CAIRO — Most Egyptian journalists have had to watch their tongues and tone down their reporting over the past three years to keep their jobs under a military-dominated government. Now, the state is ordering some women working as television anchors to practice a similar restraint with their weight. 
 
 Earlier this week, Safaa Hegazy, the director of state-run Egyptian radio and television, barred eight anchorwomen from appearing on the air for a month, saying they were overweight, the state-owned Al-Ahram news website confirmed. Ms. Hegazy ordered the women to go on a diet during their suspensions, Al-Ahram said. 
 
 Khadija Khatab, one of the eight anchorwomen, said that she had not yet been formally notified of Ms. Hegazy’s order, but added that she was recently told that “measures will be taken against” those who fail to lose weight by mid-September, according to an interview she gave to a privately owned television station. 
 
 Ms. Khatab said she was offended that coverage of her ordeal included words like “fat” and similar terms she called “unfair” and “insulting.” She also said that the pictures of her that had been circulating and mocked on the internet and social media sites were old and that she had lost weight since they were taken. 
 
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 “I believe I am an ordinary Egyptian woman who looks normal, and I don’t wear too much makeup,” Ms. Khatab said, challenging people to contradict her. ||||| Government and military officials in Egypt held a press conference to address the deteriorating security situation amid violent and deadly protests. Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Cairo. 
 
 Updated at 11 a.m. ET 
 
 An Egyptian-American columnist and activist told msnbc.com Thursday that she was sexually assaulted and beaten by police after being arrested in Cairo. 
 
 Speaking after her release following hours of questioning, Mona Eltahawy said her right hand and left arm were broken on Wednesday night by riot police who dragged her by the hair and groped her between the legs. 
 
 "They acted like animals," she told msnbc.com in a telephone interview. "I was filming the protests with my camera phone on Mohammed Mahmoud Street when they surrounded me and pulled me away." 
 
 Eltahawy posted on her Twitter account that her right hand was "so swollen I can't close it." 
 
 She posted a picture of her hand and tweeted that she was being taken to hospital. 
 
 She alleged at least one officer stuck his hand down her jeans, adding: "I managed to stop him before he touched my genitals. They touched me all over, groped every part of my body and called me names, called me a whore." 
 
 The claims by the Egyptian-born activist, who holds dual citizenship, could not immediately be verified. 
 
 She told msnbc.com she had been held for several hours being questioned by the Interior Ministry and Military Intelligence officials before being released early on Thursday. 
 
 "I think when they realised I had dual citizenship they were aware they had to be more careful," she said. "Eventually they apologized for the police behaviour and sent me home in a taxi." 
 
 "They even gave me 50 [Egyptian] pounds for the fare. The journey was only 18 pounds but I gave the driver the whole lot because I just wanted nothing to do with their money," she added. 
 
 Earlier she had posted on Twitter: "The dogs of the CSF (Central Security Force) subjected me to the worst sexual assault ever." 
 
 The latest news on protests in Egypt 
 
 According to her blog, Eltahawy spoke in May at the Oslo Freedom Forum about the power of censorship. 
 
 Camera seized 
 
 An American filmmaker and journalist, Jehane Nojaim, was also arrested by Egyptian police while documenting clashes in Tahrir Square, she told a colleague, Karim Amer, by phone. 
 
 Nojaim is an award-winning filmmaker of Egyptian ancestry who is best-known for her Al-Jazeera TV documentary "Control Room." 
 
 Amer said Nojaim was detained and her camera was confiscated. Amer said he was separated from her after they both fled from tear gas being fired by authorities. 
 
 The U.S. Department of State tweeted early Thursday that it was aware of the reports that Nojaim and Elthawy had been arrested and said the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was "engaging authorities." 
 
 By Ian Johnston and Alastair Jamieson at msnbc.com, NBC news and the Associated Press 
 
 © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
– Eight female TV hosts in Egypt have been suspended, and they've been given one month to win their jobs back—if they come back a few pounds lighter. Via the BBC, the Al-Yawm al-Sabi website reports the state-run Egyptian Radio and Television Union issued the slim-down mandate, though the women are being paid and receiving benefits during their monthlong moratorium. Women's rights activists, as well as the presenters themselves, are livid: An Egyptian women's rights NGO is calling the edict a form of violence against women, and host Khadija Khattab is imploring viewers to watch her newscasts to determine a) if she's "fat," and b) whether her weight should affect her job status. "I believe I am an ordinary Egyptian woman who looks normal," she says, per the New York Times. Critics are also calling the move sexist, as only female presenters were suspended, the Independent notes. The ERTU is headed by Safaa Hegazy, a former female news anchor herself who the Telegraph notes was brought in in April to make the broadcaster more competitive, since ratings for state-run channels tanked after the 2011 Egyptian uprising. Some who approve of the suspension are women: Per the Times, a female commentator for the government-run Al-Ahram website says she's "sickened" by the suspended hosts' "disgusting and repulsive" appearance, while a female colleague asks: "Is a ban for eight enough?" The chair of Cairo's Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, however, tells the Independent that "judging anybody on the basis of his or her body weight is not the right criterion," adding weight shouldn't be an issue "as long as he or she does not use nasty words on the air and knows well how to deal with guests." Her model example: Oprah Winfrey. (An eighth-grader refused to give her BMI for a school assignment.)