Al-Sisi awarded 

opera house medal

PRESIDENT Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi received the Dresden SemperOpernball’s Opera House Medal of St George in recognition of his efforts to realise security, stability and development in Egypt. Hans-Joachim Frey, director of the SemperOpernball, presented the medal on Sunday 26 January, noting that conferring the medal on the president “recognises his relentless efforts in all fields in the past years, especially restoring security and stability in Egypt in light of a tense regional surrounding”. This is in addition to the president’s leading role in boosting development in Africa which strengthened Egypt’s position at the regional, continental and international levels. Frey said the award was previously presented to a number of kings, heads of state and senior officials, including the queen of Sweden and the presidents of Russia and Romania.  

The German delegation applauded Egypt’s efforts to combat illegal migration which it said had the greatest impact on Europe’s security and stability.

Frey looked forward to enhancing cooperation with Egypt by extending cultural bridges and holding a number of joint activities, especially by cooperation with the new cultural institutions established in Egypt, including the new opera house and the Grand Egyptian Museum.

President Al-Sisi expressed his appreciation for being awarded the medal and confirmed that it demonstrates the closeness and development of Egyptian-German relations at all levels.

Court bans niqab

THE SUPREME Administrative Court on 27 January upheld Cairo University’s decision to ban its female professors from wearing the niqab, or face veil, while teaching. The court ruling was based on Article 96 of the law regulating universities and which obliges teaching staff to adhere to university traditions. The ruling ended a controversy that started in 2015 when the university decided to ban female professors and employees from wearing the face veil. The university justified the decision by arguing that the niqab affects communication. 

According to a statement issued by Cairo University in 2015, “It is not allowed for academic staff at any of the university faculties to teach theoretical and practical lessons or attend laboratory or practical training while wearing the niqab.” 

The court stated in its ruling that any individual has the freedom to wear whatever he or she wants as this is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution. However, the court also said that this freedom is not without limits, stressing that personal  freedoms should not contradict with what it called public morals. 

In addition, the court asserted that professors should not have their faces hidden while dealing with students during academic lectures, underlining the importance of clear and direct communication between the academic staff and their students. 

Dozens of students and faculty protested against the ban, and university staff members who wear the niqab published a statement in 2015 condemning the decision, describing it as “racist” and arguing that communication is not limited to facial expressions. 

In 2009, Al-Azhar University banned the niqab in university classes and dormitories after Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi ordered a student to remove her face veil while visiting an academy associated with Al-Azhar. Niqabs were later banned during exams at Cairo University, prompting heated debate.

However, in 2012, the niqab was allowed once again when the then minister of higher education said that female students wearing face veils should no longer be banned from sitting for their university exams. Instead, students wearing the niqab would be allowed to take their exams after their identities are checked by a female staff member.

Three death sentences CAIRO Criminal Court convicted 11 defendants for the assassination attempt on Alexandria’s head of security Mustafa Al-Nemr in March 2018. Three of the defendants received a preliminary death sentence and were referred to the grand mufti who will issue a final ruling on 21 March. Al-Nemr escaped unharmed while his convoy was passing through Al-Moaskar Al-Romani St but two police officers were killed. The incident took place in the run-up to the 2018 presidential elections.

Days later, Egyptian police killed six Hasm terrorist group members believed to be responsible for the attack. At the time, the assassination attempt was the first against a security official since late 2016, which witnessed a number of attacks that included an assassination attempt on a senior judicial official in September 2016, and the October 2016 assassination of an army brigadier general who had previously served in North Sinai, where the army’s war against terrorism is concentrated.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 30 January, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.