Archive: egypt

4th February 2019
By: Brian Whitaker
via Twitter" src="/sites/default/files/sisi_family_0.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 469px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /> Proposed constitutional changes in Egypt, announced at the weekend, could keep President Sisi in power until 2034. Sisi is currently in the second of two four… Read more
22nd January 2019
By: Brian Whitaker
Reverberations from a controversial pop concert are continuing in Egypt, more than a year after the event. It was in September 2017 that a performance by the Lebanese band, Mashrou' Leila, in Cairo triggered a moral panic. The band's lead singer is openly gay and several fans in the audience waved… Read more
3rd April 2018
By: Brian Whitaker
Not content with securing 97% of the votes in Egypt's presidential "election", the Sisi regime is venting its wrath against local and foreign news media that ventured to criticise the process. On Sunday it was reported that the Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm had been fined LE 150,000 (about $… Read more
22nd January 2018
By: Brian Whitaker
Atheism is like terrorism and is part of an orchestrated plot to destroy Arab countries, an Egyptian government minister claimed last week. "The ideas of atheists, queers and extremists are time bombs" like the bombs of terrorists, Muhammad Mukhtar Juma'a, minister of awqaf (religious endowments),… Read more
5th January 2018
By: Brian Whitaker
As Saudi Arabia relaxes its rules against cinemas and women drivers, Egypt now looks set to inherit the coveted title of Arab country with the most absurd restrictions. Having made little progress in combating an Islamist insurgency, the Sisi regime has turned its attention to the "threat" posed… Read more
30th December 2017
By: Brian Whitaker
A court in Egypt has separated a mother from her two children because she is an atheist. The decision to refuse custody of the children came from a family court in Cairo last Sunday, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reports. RFI gives no further details of the case but notes that it comes in the… Read more
23rd December 2017
By: Brian Whitaker
The Egyptian parliament's committee on religion has announced plans to make disbelief in God a crime. Under the current law against "contempt of religions" atheists can be prosecuted for expressing their disbelief in public but the committee's proposal would go further and criminalise disbelief… Read more
23rd November 2017
By: Brian Whitaker
Egyptian morality police are systematically using fake social media accounts to target LGBT people, according to a report published yesterday. Out of 232 prosecutions for "non-normative" sexual behaviour over the last four years, 129 – more than half – were the result of entrapment through dating… Read more
31st October 2017
By: Brian Whitaker
A week after Saudi Arabia unveiled plans to build a $500 billion futuristic megacity free from the kingdom's usual religious restrictions, there's confusion over what, exactly, will be allowed. A video presentation last week envisaged men and women working side by side in the new city, women… Read more
26th October 2017
By: Brian Whitaker
Amid the continuing moral panic over homosexuality in Egypt, a draft law submitted to parliament proposes not only to criminalise gay sex but also to ban rainbow flags and outlaw almost any kind of social activity involving gay people. The draft law, presented to the Speaker by MP Riad Abdel Sattar… Read more