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Monday, 21 January 2019

Egypt talk show host sentenced to year in prison for promoting indecency, Swvl among MENA’s top unicorns

It’s a quiet morning for Egypt in the international press. The only story likely to have legs beyond today is a report by France’s AFP that a misdemeanor court in Six October has sentenced talk show host Mohamed El Gheity a year in jail and a fine of EGP 3k for hosting a homo[redacted] man on the airwaves in August 2018. The case was brought to court by Cairo’s wannabe Harvey Dent, otherwise known as lawyer Samir Sabry, who single-handedly leads a war against his definition of public indecency. El Gheity, accused of promoting homo[redacted] and contempt of religion, can appeal the verdict.

It’s an otherwise insipid morning with stories making the rounds including:

  • Blather about startups: Cairo-based transportation app Swvl tops Arab News’ list of promoting startups in MENA.
  • Blather about football: The African Cup of Nations is chance for Egypt to shine, the Arab Weekly says.
  • Blather about corruption: The prosecutor general has ordered the confiscation of Cyprus-based funds belonging to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, Asharq Al Awsat reported.

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