Human rights again plays heavily in the conversation on Egypt in the international press this morning. Laila Soueif, the mother of jailed activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, calls for his release in an opinion piece for the New York Times ahead of Abd El Fattah’s scheduled sentencing on Monday. Meanwhile, AP, Reuters, Bloomberg and Haaretz are picking up a Citizen Lab report on spyware targeting a politician and a talk show host, both of them in exile. And the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual report is getting more ink from the Grey Lady’s op-ed pages.

MEANWHILE- Egypt and Turkey are vying for a stronger foothold in the Horn of Africa, with Egypt amplifying efforts to increase military and trade cooperation with Kenya following regional rival Turkey’s moves to improve relations with the African country (Al Monitor). And former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government approved a number of arms sales to Egypt before leaving office (DW).