CAIRO — Egypt has barred three private Iraqi TV stations from its main satellite system, the broadcasting regulator said on Tuesday, after Baghdad complained that their coverage was stoking sectarian tensions.

The news came a day after Egypt jailed three Al Jazeera journalists on charges of aiding the outlawed Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organization, a ruling condemned around the world as a blow to press freedom.  

Al-Baghdadia, Al-Rafidain and Al-Hadath TV stations were all barred from the state-owned Nilesat, which broadcasts across the Middle East and North Africa, the head of Egypt’s broadcasting regulator Free Zone said.

The three channels have been off the air in Iraq and Egypt since last week. They often took a pro-Sunni, anti-Iraqi government line that appeals to the country’s Sunni minority, although al-Baghdadiya in particular had investigative programing that attracted a broader segment of the population.

The channels have covered the onslaught by Sunni insurgent group Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham extensively and carried statements from the al Qaeda offshoot. 

An official at Free Zone, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to block the channels was linked to complaints from Iraq.

Egypt has shut down a number of pro-Islamist channels since the army’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last year.

On Monday it triggered an international outcry by jailing three journalists from Qatar-backed Al Jazeera television, accusing them of aiding Egypt’s outlawed Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.