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Thursday, 26 September 2019

The foreign press are fixated on Mohamed Ali

The foreign press is delving deep into Egyptian whistleblower, Mohamed Ali, following protests this past weekend widely linked to his viral allegations of misuse of public funds by the government. Ali touched a sore spot for the Egyptian population as many fall under the poverty line, several outlets suggest: The Economist, the Financial Times, Deutsche Welle, and the Guardian all have the story.

Open Democracy goes one step further, using data to suggest that many Egyptians continue to suffer under precarity, despite the positive macro indicators that have so many economists excited. Meanwhile, the Working Group on Egypt, which describes itself as “a bipartisan group of foreign affairs experts formed in 2010,” is calling on US officials to “clearly state … support for peaceful protests in Egypt.”

Trump’s name is also being thrown into the mix after he dismissed the protests and praised El Sisi as a great leader during their meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Bloomberg questions Trump for not asking El Sisi about the allegations after Trump specifically defended his right to ask foreign leaders about corruption. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post contemplates whether Trump’s support of El Sisi might egg protestors on.

In a reminder that there are other things going on in Egypt:

  • The touchy subject of female pastors: Al Monitor asks whether female pastors will ever become a thing in Egypt, after Cairo-born Gihan Farag returned to Egypt this summer having become a priest in the United Church of Christ in Texas.
  • Egypt retrieves looted coffin from New York: A gilded Pharaonic coffin that has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is making its way back to Egypt on account of being “looted antiquity,” reports the AP.

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