Former Deputy Prime Minister and Al Shorouk columnist Ziad Bahaa Eldin wants to drag Egypt’s laws into the 21st century. He says the state doesn’t need to amend the protest law, it needs to fundamentally change how it views the rights to protest and freedom of expression. The law itself was redundant, he says, as the criminal law already carried enough provisions to punish incidents of violence and vandalism. The protest law effectively only outlawed peaceful protests and made them punishable by a five-year sentence. Other freedom-restricting laws including the offences of “contempt of religion” and “spreading rumors to damage the economy” must be addressed as well, Bahaa Eldin says.

To El Watan’s Emad El Din Adib, the resignation of former Secretary General of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation Iyad Ameen Madani was Saudi Arabia’s way of apologizing for Madani making fun of President El Sisi.