In a joint press conference between French President Emmanuel Macron and Egypt’s Abdelfattah El Sisi about human rights, Sisi said that “Egypt will not rise up with bloggers… Egypt will develop with efforts and patience.” This was a response to some of the remarks made by Macron during El-Sisi’s visit to France in October of 2017, where the French president discussed with El-Sisi that the detained Egyptian bloggers and influencers do not “undermine stability.” “What should I do with employment? Rising population? How do we solve these problems? Tell me,” Egypt’s president said. He also highlighted that Egypt has nothing to hide and emphasized that the bloggers”speak a language that is different from the reality in which we live.” “We lead our state with honesty and integrity,” El-Sisi added, “We do not want to confine the issue of human rights in Egypt to freedom of expression, people’s opinions are one thing, and the destruction of the state is another.” On the first day of his trip to Egypt, Macron said that the human rights situation is perceived as tougher than under Mubarak, and that it threatens the country’s stability, Reuters…
