Coordination in full swing with foreign media for election: SIS

CAIRO – 26 March 2018: The State Information Service released a statement on Monday saying that coordination with foreign media outlets and reporters registered to cover the presidential poll is in full swing.

SIS contacted 110 foreign media outlets on the first day of the voting process. The operation room received 19 complaints and inquiries from correspondents regarding their entrance to polling stations, and solved them all, according to the statement.

The total number of foreign reporters registered to cover the election in Egypt is 680, including both residents and those visiting. SIS allocated a hotline (16149) to receive complaints from foreign reporters.

About 60,000 journalists are working within Egypt, but not all of them are registered at the journalism syndicate as credible members.

SIS has reiterated offering all of the necessary and needed facilities for the national and international journalists to do their work easily and freely in Egypt.

We offer foreign reporters all help they need: SIS head

CAIRO - 13 March 2018: Egypt offers all of the necessary and needed facilities for the national and international journalists to do their work easily and freely in Egypt, including the BBC reporters, said Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service (SIS), on Tuesday.

SIS advised local and foreign media outlets on several occasions to abide by official accounts on certain issues and affairs in Egypt and not jump to conclusions.

Earlier this month, BBC was under fire and its Cairo bureau could be closed per a court ruling over a report claiming an Egyptian woman, called Zubeida, had been kidnapped by the police.

An interview with Zubeida on ON E TV Channel is believed to have debunked the channel’s claims, after Zubeida herself refuted the allegations about her “forced disappearance.”

SIS was out again this week outlining the reasons behind the deportation of a reporter from The Times newspaper.

On Friday, The Times' correspondent, Bel Trew, who has been reporting from and living in Egypt for seven years, published an article outlining her arrest by the Egyptian authorities and her subsequent deportation. She claimed that her deportation made "no legal sense" and was baseless.

Egypt's SIS responds to Times' journalist deportation

CAIRO - 25 March 2018: The State Information Service has issued a statement Sunday outlining the deportation of a reporter from The Times, and outlining the reasons why. On Friday, The Times' correspondent, Bel Trew, who has been reporting from and living in Egypt for seven years, published an article outlining her arrest by Egyptian authorities and her subsequent deportation.

In a statement on Sunday, SIS denied that Trew was deprived of her rights as stated in her article, but that the main reason behind her deportation was that she “was filming an interview in a café without a permit.”

The statement also explained that "Ms. Trew failed to apply for the Press Center to issue a temporary press card, as is the case with all accredited foreign correspondents in Egypt. This is the first violation of Egyptian law and regulations governing the work of foreign correspondents in Egypt."