The release of Sinai Bedouins is the most heavily covered story in Egyptian papers today. Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Shorouq and Al-Dostour all feature on their front pages articles on the 36 detainees released by Egyptian security yesterday, and the 17 who have been promised their freedom today. The releases come as part of a deal to relieve tension between Egyptian security forces and Bedouin tribes.
The first three (state-run) newspapers also report on Bedouin support for President Hosni Mubarak. “36 Bedouins are freed in Sinai. Their families pledge allegiance to President Mubarak,” reads Al-Akhbar front-page headline.
Privately-owned Al-Dostour meanwhile questions the absence of Mosaad Abu Fajr, a Sinai blogger and activist, on the list of those released, despite a recent court decision ruling in favor of his release.
The independent daily Al-Shorouq headlines with comments made by the European Union ambassador to Egypt regarding the case of Khaled Saeed, the Alexandrian allegedly beaten to death by police last month. The case stirred up demonstrations throughout Egypt since Saeed’s death on 6 June. Al-Dostour quotes a European Union source as saying: “We don’t wish to interfere in a face-off with Egyptian authorities on human rights cases …but we believe that human rights are international principals and what happened in Khaled Saeed’s case cannot be justified by talking about Egyptian privacy.”
Nahdet Misr takes its top quote from Moufid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs: “Egypt is witnessing an improvement in its human rights situation…and fraud in the Shura Council elections is limited to ‘personal’ cases.” Al-Dostour also refers to Shehab’s words, spoken while visiting a venue for university students in Alexandria: “Rigging the elections is a crime that I cannot defend.”
A new Facebook group also features as a top story in Al-Dostour. “Octopus Paul appears in Egypt and chooses ElBaradei as Egypt’s President” is the group’s name. The group acquired more than a thousand members in less than 24 hours.
Opposition party paper Al-Wafd tops its front page with news of investigations into former prime minister Atef Ebeid selling state-owned companies at a quarter of their market value. The Wafd Party makes use of its mouthpiece publication to confirm that it “will run in the parliamentary elections, if guaranteed.”
State-owned newspapers continue to run thanaweyya-amma-themed items as top stories. Thanaweyya amma is the last two years of high school in Egypt. Al-Ahram writes that “2583 students alone have the chance to join top university faculties,” and Al-Akhbar quotes Ahmed Badr Zaki, the Education Minister, as saying: “The thanaweyya amma results are better than last year.”
“We are Egyptians,” is the headline for Al-Gomhorriya’s lead story. The paper quotes residents from Halayeb and Shalateen insisting that their “constitutional and human rights are guaranteed under Egyptian sovereignty.” Halayeb and Shalateen form an area included inside the Egyptian border with Sudan. This has been disputed by Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir, who says the land belongs to Sudan.
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose el-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party’s Policies Secretariat
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouq: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt el-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
