Archive: egypt

2nd April 2020
By: Brian Whitaker
The Egyptian authorities have been taking exception to suggestions that there are far more coronavirus cases in the country than official figures reveal. Last week, the Guardian's correspondent in Cairo was forced to leave after writing about a scientific study which said the real numbers probably… Read more
1st April 2020
By: Brian Whitaker
Egypt's efforts to control the spread of coronavirus are "good and reassuring", President Sisi claimed yesterday as the authorities reported 54 new cases and five more deaths. "In light of my following-up around the clock on all efforts and measures taken to confront the spread of coronavirus, I… Read more
18th March 2020
By: Brian Whitaker
The Egyptian government has accused reporters from the Guardian and the New York Times of violating "all the rules of journalistic work" in connection with the country's coronavirus epidemic. The Sisi regime's State Information Service said on Wednesday it was withdrawing the accreditation of the… Read more
22nd September 2019
By: Brian Whitaker
The Egyptian authorities have issued a notice to accredited foreign journalists based in Cairo. Basically it seeks to restrict their reporting of demonstrations by demanding compliance with some rather bizarre "professional standards" -- presumably with the threat of expulsion if they disobey. Here… Read more
13th February 2019
By: Brian Whitaker
Last December Egypt's minister of culture, Ines Abdel-Dayem, went into battle against sectarianism – armed with a flute. The minister, who is a former director of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and a former chair of the Cairo Opera House, played her favourite instrument at a concert in Minya as part… Read more
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