Leading the conversation on Egypt in the foreign press this morning: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday called on the Egyptian government to end its clampdown on the press following a raid on news outlet Mada Masr earlier this week. “As part of our longstanding strategic relationship with Egypt, we continue to raise the fundamental importance of respect for human rights, universal freedoms and the need for a robust civil society,” Pompeo said at a news conference. “We call on the Egyptian government to respect freedom of the press and release journalists detained during a raid last weekend.” Mada Masr’s office was raided on Sunday by police, who seized mobile phones and laptops and briefly detained three senior members of the news outlet’s staff. (Agence-France Presse│The Week│The National│Jerusalem Post). Human Rights Watch issued a statement yesterday on the raid, and Deutsche Welle also has a story.

The Washington Post is out with two opinion pieces on the story, including an editorial that calls on Congress to use the USD 1 bn in military aid given to Egypt every year to put pressure on the government to improve its human rights record and a separate piece by Ezzedine Fishere.