2018 Witnessed Rise of SIS, Press Attachés

Nawal Sayed

By Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, Dec. 28 (SEE) - In June, 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi issued a presidential decree appointing Diaa Rashwan, as chief of the State Information Service (SIS).

Since then, SIS has been playing a significant role in many

fields such as communicating with foreign media, addressing the Egyptian

expatriates’ and meeting their demands and assisting Egyptian journalists

travelling abroad.

In this report, SEE sheds some light on the above mentioned

aspects and hold them all accountable for their good and bad deeds.

Who is Diaa Rashwan?

Rashwan was born in 1960 in Qena, Upper Egypt. He obtained

his Bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science,

Cairo University.

He served as the Head of the Egyptian Press Syndicate from

March 2013 to March 2015 and has been the Director of Al-Ahram Center for

Political and Strategic Studies since September 2011.

Rashwan was a dissident during the Mubarak era, and was a

founding member of Kefaya movement which was the seed of the 2011 revolution.

Rashwan has also a member of the board of trustees of the

Egyptian Organization for Human Rights since the 1980s.

In 2010 he nominated himself in the parliamentary elections

against the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party contesting the

seat of Armant, however he lost to the NDP candidate due to widespread rigging

of the elections by Mubarak's government.

Rashwan was chosen to be appointed to the 50-member

constitution committee during the second transitional period to draft Egypt's

current constitution. The constitution was later approved by popular referendum

in January 2014.

In late 2017, he was appointed as a member of the Supreme

Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism.

Previously, SIS’s chiefs were not

known to the media, but Rashwan changed that impression and rebuild a bridge

with the local and foreign media outlets. Also, he is keen to comment on some

incidents and issue statements if necessary.

In August, Rashwan, in response to

President Sisi’s speech at the Youth Conference at Cairo University in which he

stated that the Army did not conspire against the Muslim Brotherhood regime and

did not aspire to power, revealed parts of the scenes that took place before Sisi

announced the 1st political forces statement on July 3, 2013.

During MBC program "Happening in

Egypt," Rashwan said that the Brotherhood alleged that the Supreme Council

of the Armed Forces had been conspiring against them since January 2011 and

that what happened on 30 June 2013 is a military coup.

Rashwan said that the negotiations

between Sisi and the Muslim Brotherhood to end the crisis had reached, at that

time, to a point that was rejected by the political forces, adding that Sisi

had agreed to hold the referendum that some Muslim Brotherhood, mainly Dr.

Abdel Moneim Abul al-Fotouh, had been trying to impose.

In another regard, Reuters withdrew a

report published by the British news agency on 28 March regarding the progress

of the electoral process in Egypt after SIS had expressed its complete

rejection to the “inaccurate” information mentioned in the report.

The report referred to was replaced

with a message to readers saying “the item detailed below is withdrawn because

it did not meet Reuters standards.” The message was published through all the

media outlets affiliated to the agency worldwide.

After a series of contacts with

Reuters officials in London and New York, Rashwan said he received a reply from

Reuters management that the agency decided to withdraw the report, which was

considered an acknowledgment by the agency of the inaccuracy of the report,

according to a statement issued by SIS.

Since the beginning of presidential

election on March 26, SIS was keen to follow up reports published by all

foreign media outlets regarding the electoral process. Through its operations

rooms, SIS kept a connection with foreign correspondents who covered the

Egyptian polls, asserting that the foreign reporters reported no complaints or

hurdles during their media coverage.

Successful Press attaché

Egyptian embassies in foreign

countries embrace “unknown soldiers” who play key roles in representing the

state of Egypt in various occasions, most notably press attachés.

Racha Ali, press attaché at the

Egyptian embassy in France, reshaped the position’s responsibilities since she

took up office early 2017.

The first challenged that she faced

was that President Sisi paid his first official visit to France in September

2017, a few months after she had arrived in Paris and formed her teamwork.

Despite several challenges, she

succeeded in managing and covering the visit.

She warmly welcomed the journalists’ who came from Egypt to France to cover Sisi’s significant visit. All journalists were happy with their assistance and sincere help. Racha is a role model of other press attachés in different embassies across the world.

“I wish all Egyptian expatriates in

France a happy new year,” Racha told SEE on Friday.

SIS’s Unknown Soldiers

Another unknown soldier working at

SIS is Mervat al-Sonbaty, head of the Egyptian Expatriates’ Sector. She heads a

big team of clever persons who don’t hesitate to help Egyptians living abroad

and meet their calls.

Mervat’s Facebook’s personal account

is deemed as a news portal publishing all news and topics that the expats are interested

in and may care about.