Back to the complete issue
Monday, 2 April 2018

Post-election coverage, SIS threatens to summon foreign journalists

As we noted above, press and political freedom continued to dominate headlines on Egypt internationally. Beyond coverage of Al Masry Al Youm’s fine, there’s a wave of stories critical of the state of political freedom in Egypt. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi winning the election by c. 92% of the vote “says all you need to know about the contest. Yet Mr. Sisi … should use his second term to allow more moderate voices to emerge as a channel for political dissent even as he stresses economic growth and crushing an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai.”

Activists tell The Telegraph’s Raf Sanchez the election saw Sisi consolidate his power. They see “little chance of another mass show of people power like in Tahrir Square anytime soon.” One college professor suggested that political space will open up again once Egypt’s security situation is stable. HA Hellyer almost repeats the same point in his piece for the Atlantic. Egypt desks at foreign papers must be paid by the word.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.