At the 2019 Munich Security Conference, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi briefly mentioned Egypt’s role in hosting Armenians following the genocide against them 100 years ago by the Ottoman Empire. “In Egypt, we have 5 million refugees [registered and unregistered], who do not live in camps. They have been treated as we dealt with Armenians [refugees] 100 years ago, when Egypt hosted them after the genocide,” Sisi said. Following the statement by Sisi, the Armenian National Committee of Egypt labeled el-Sisi’s statement as a “pre-step” towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide, though he did not explicitly mention the term ‘genocide’. “True, although the Egyptian president did not use the term “genocide”, he did however make the first step in this direction, by seeing the need for mentioning it in light of current realities,” the Armenian National Committee of Egypt said in a news release. “Initially he spoke about Egypt having accepted Armenian refugees, however he did not speak about the reason. The Armenian National Committee of Egypt commends this step of the Egyptian president, assessing it not only as a pre-step towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide, but also as the Middle East’s and Northern…
Uber Egypt Will Start Paying Value-Added Tax to Appease White Taxi Drivers
In a step to reconcile the tension between the ride-hailing app Uber and white taxi drivers in Egypt, the Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it revealed on 18 February that Uber will start paying value-added tax (VAT) worth 14 percent to fulfill the Law No. 67/2016 According to the Egyptian Tax Authority, this law will be reinforced on other ride-booking companies in Egypt like Careem and others. In an interview with MENA, the head of the Egyptian Tax Authority, Abdel Azeem Hussein said “Reaching an agreement and determining the tax treatment that will be applied to the company Uber and other companies operating in the same area will enhance confidence and cooperation between the authority and the tax community.” This move is in accordance with the law Egypt introduced last summer to modulate Uber and Careem after local taxi drivers sued the ride-hailing companies for not paying taxes, because their drivers use private cars rather than cars that were registered as taxis, exempting them from taxes. Uber released a statement last week alerting their users that their fare prices have increased to account for the inflation rate and VAT. A few weeks ago, Uber experienced…
Explosion Behind Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo
At least two people were killed and three wounded in an explosion behind Al-Azhar Mosque when a suicide bomber allegedly blew himself up in the capital city, Egypt’s ministry of interior confirmed. Both the deceased were police officers, the ministry noted, adding the suspect was also killed in the blast. The explosion took place after the police chased the suspect who they believe had planted a bomb near a mosque last week. As the police caught the suspect in Cairo’s ancient Islamic district close to the Al Azhar mosque, “one of the explosive devices in his possession exploded, causing the death of the terrorist and the martyrdom of a police officer from national security and an officer from Cairo investigations (department)”, the statement said. The suspect was identified as 37-year-old Al-Hassan Abdullah….
Photojournalist Shawkan’s Release Procedures Supposedly Underway
According to state-owned outlet Al-Ahram, procedures have been reported to be underway to release 32-year-old Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid. The news also involves the release of 214 others who have served five-year jail sentences for their involvement with the currently-banned Mulsim Brotherhood’s sit-in at Rabaa El Aadaweya, located in Cairo’s Nasr city. Commonly referred to as ‘Shawkan’, the freelance photographer was sentenced to five-years in prison in for covering the 2013 political events by the Cairo Criminal Court. Shawkan was jailed for covering the dispersal of Al Rabaa El Adawiya mosque as well as covering clashes between protesters and security forces in 2013. Since he had already spent more than five years in prison as ‘pre-trial- detention, he was expected to be released in September 2018; authorities have not spoken out on the reasons of his detention till today. However, BBC Arabic stated that Shawkan was unable to pay the criminal and compensation expenses. As a result, the Public Prosecution decided on a six-month detention extension. Shawkan was accused of launching arson attacks on public utilities, inciting murder and crime, resisting authorities, blocking roads, assaulting police and inhabitants, illegally possessing weapons and…
Apple and Google Urged to Remove Saudi App ‘Absher’ for Tracking Women
Human rights defenders have been urging Apple and Google to remove the Saudi government app ‘Absher’ from its platforms, over claims that it “enables abhorrent surveillance and control of women.” The reaction came after an investigative report by INSIDER which reported that Absher allows men to control where women travel outside the Kingdom, and set up SMS alerts for when women use their passports at the border. In a letter sent to the tech giants on Monday, Senator Ron Wyden requested for them to prevent their app stores from being used by the Saudi government to continue the “abhorrent surveillance and control of women.” Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, told National Public Radio on Monday: “I haven’t heard about it. But obviously we’ll take a look at it if that’s the case.” Google also told CNN they were “looking into it,” but did not have definite claims to share at the moment. On the other hand, the Saudi Interior Ministry defended the app in a press statement via the official Saudi Press Agency on Saturday. “The Ministry strongly condemns the systematic campaign aimed at questioning the purpose of (Abshar) services,” the statement said. “These allegations aim…
Egyptian Parliament Member Encourages Egyptian Students in Sudan to Come Back Home
As the protests in Sudan escalate, Sudan’s Ministry of Higher Education advised public and private universities to shut down and some followed though leading the Egyptian parliament to call Egyptian students studying at universities in Sudan to come back to Egypt in order to resume their education. Most universities have shut down for several reasons. Some wanted to ensure the safety of their staff, faculty and students. Other were forced to shut down as a result of civil disobedience by professionals and students. This, of course, will cause a delay in the curriculum and some universities have already postponed their examination period until further notice, especially when many students failed to attend their examinations as an act of protest. Egypt Today reported that Egyptian MP Mohamed el-Ghoul, a member of the Human Rights Committee, drafted a proposal to the House of Representatives on how the recent events in Sudan will negatively affect Egyptian students studying at local institutions. The MP suggested to bring back all Egyptian students and have them enrolled in Egyptian universities to resume their education. This course of action follows the same footsteps Egypt took when the…
Egypt’s New Capital to Be First ‘Cashless’ City in the Country
As part of the country’s efforts to support financial inclusion, Egypt is planning to make the New Administrative Capital the first cashless city in the country, according to the State Information Service. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat met with the vice chairman and president of strategic growth at Mastercard, Michael Froman, to set out plans for the company’s investment in Egypt in the field of electronic government payments. Talaat stressed in the meeting on Egypt’s plans to turn into a cashless society and the importance of benefiting from the company’s experiences. He added that such plans should encourage e-commerce, which is currently increasing in trade activities, and to make Egypt a regional hub for such cross-world industry. Froman, on the other hand, laid out Mastercard’s plans which aim at boosting the technological infrastructure in the New Administrative Capital and meet the government’s goal for it to be the first cashless city in Egypt. In July 2018, Deputy Minister of Housing Khaled Abbas announced that the New Administrative Capital will take a new modern path and become Egypt’s first smart residential city. Abbas noted that for the first time the…
MET to Repatriate Stolen Coffin to Egypt
According to the Metropolitan museum of art – New York’s highly reputed and popular tourist site- has announced that it will be returning a prized gilded coffin of an ancient high priest to Egypt. The MET issued a press released on February 15 where it announced that Nedjmankh’s funerary object, discovered to have been looted from Egypt in 2011, was to be handed over to the Egyptian government. Having been made aware of the looted status of the coffin, the museum stated that it has been ”fully cooperative with the investigation of the [Manhanttan] District Attorney’s Office.” The gilded coffin was purchased by the MET in July 2017; it cost almost $US 4 million. Museum officials realized that documentation pertaining to the coffin’s ownership and history were forged, including a forged export license dating to 1971. “After we learned that the Museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DA’s office for its return to Egypt. The nation of Egypt has been a strong partner of the Museum’s for over a century,” stated Met’s President and CEO, Daniel Weiss….
Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Education Launch a Campaign For Anemia, Dwarfism and Obesity
Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education supported by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi initiated a new campaign on 17 February targeting anemia, dwarfism and obesity amongst Egypt’s preadolescent children aging between six to 12 years old. The campaign will last until 2 April and hopes to assess 11.5 million school children who attend governmental and private school across Egypt in its first phase. Minster of Education Tarek Shawky stressed that diagnoses is compulsory and parents who do not cooperate will be condemned. Once the results are out, parents will be notified and allowed access to free treatment for their children. The entire campaign is three phases and will cover 22,000 schools in Egypt. The anemia and obesity are common health problems in Egypt and specifically prevalent amongst young children. A research done across Egypt’s rural and urban governorates in 2010, published by IOSR Journal of Pharmacy in 2015 revealed that 35.3 percent of school children ages five to 12 years old suffer from anemia. In retrospect, anemia has been an epidemic affecting several age groups. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report published in 2008, at least 25.4…