The NGO Law continued to be the topic of discussion for a number of outlets. Heba Saleh pens a piece for the Financial Times which suggests that the move to regulate civil society activity in Egypt is part of a move to squeeze outlets for dissent ahead of the presidential elections in 2018. “Of course these moves are in preparation for the election, and maybe also to pre-empt any reaction on the street if parliament still votes to hand over the islands to Saudi Arabia,” said Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer and potential presidential candidate who is on trial on obscenity, who makes an appearance in the piece.

Rare criticism of the NGO act in the GCC press: Arab News columnist Mohamed Nosseir says the law is counterproductive to the fight against terror. He believes that civil society organizations offer a productive outlet for citizens to help reform societies, and empty a vacuum which terrorists can exploit.

Stick to the hagiography of the IRA, boyo. The world’s most trusted source of analysis of Egyptian affairs — why, the Boston Herald of course — has its editorial board pulling a hatchet job on Egypt. Our noting it here probably doubled its Egypt readership.