Head of Egypt's State Information Service Rashwan to respond to 'flawed Western reports' in parliament Sunday
Gamal Essam El-Din, , Sunday 3 Dec 2017


The Egyptian parliament's foreign relations committee is scheduled to hold a meeting on Sunday where the head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan will hold a Q&A session on "flawed Western reports" on Egypt.

A number of MPs have recently attacked some British and US media outlets for publishing "misguided reports" on Egypt, especially in covering the country’s fight against terrorism.

Alaa Abed, the head of parliament's human rights committee, has accused the BBC and Reuters of fabricating news about the October incident where terrorists killed 16 Egyptian policemen in the Western Desert. The BBC and Reuters had claimed that as many as 53 policemen were killed in the incident, which Egypt has strongly condemned as inaccurate reporting.

A number of MPs have also accused London-based news outlet The Guardian of publishing misleading reports on Egypt, the latest of which was a report following the terrorist attack in North Sinai on 24 November, which killed 311 people.

Many MPs believe The Guardian displays sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood, which is designated a terrorist group in Egypt, and takes money from Qatar, which Egypt accuses of supporting the Islamist group.

The meeting of parliament's foreign relations committee will be held to review Egypt's foreign policy and recent political developments in the Middle East and the Arab world.

Rashwan will also meet with parliament's African Affairs Committee to discuss the role of the SIS in disseminating in African countries the objectives of Egypt's foreign policies.

The head of the committee Tarek Radwan said that the committee is currently preparing a report on the challenges facing Egypt's foreign policy.

"In this context, the committee will meet on Sunday with… Rashwan to discuss challenges confronting Egypt regionally and internationally and the role of the SIS in standing up to these challenges," Radwan told reporters.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/282616.aspx