Former PM Ahmed Shafik: I am not abducted and free to move

CAIRO - 3 December 2017: Egypt’s former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik denied that Egyptian authorities have limited his movement or arrested him, revealing that he is staying at a hotel in Cairo near his house, during a phone call with TV anchor Wael al-Ebrashy on Dream TV channel on Sunday.

Shafik denied that his footage was deliberately aired on the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera, affirming that he plans on investigating the issue, and possibly suing the channel for using the footage against his will.

“I apologize for all the people who were upset by my appearance on Al-Jazeera, it was leaked without my knowledge,” Shafik told the anchor. Shafik explained that despite not being responsible for the airing of the footage, he is apologizing because he respects the emotions of those viewers that were emotionally affected by his appearance on the terrorism-linked channel.

The former Prime Minister denied that he intended to insult the UAE, clarifying that he would not insult the country that has been kindly hosting him for the previous five years. Shafik assured the anchor that the video was a back-up video leaked by mistake from his phone.

After the controversy break out following Shafik’s announcement that he will run for president in 2018, Shafik clarified that he is still weighing his options, and the decision needs more thinking, as long as he is finally home.