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Sisi's visit to Hungary marred by bad press

June 5, 2015 at 10:50 am

This week’s visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Hungary as part of a European tour has generated negative headlines across the country.

Center-left newspaper Nepszabadsag ran the headline “Commander coming, in suit” for the two-day visit, adding: “The 60-year-old president brought back civilian-clothed military government.”

The Egyptian leader is in Budapest today, having arrived on Thursday. He is expected to meet senior members of the Hungarian government. Sisi also visited Germany earlier this week.

“The Muslim Brotherhood’s right to democratic governance was stronger than the current president’s,” wrote Nepszabadsag.

“Sisi took over his last rank from Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, but staged a coup against Muslim Brotherhood members, jailed them and sentenced to death,” it added.

Hungarian news website Index ran a story headlined: “Egypt’s pro-coup leader visits Hungary and we grant him title of honorary PhD”.

“Commander Sisi deposed Morsi, suspended Egypt’s constitution, jailed his political rivals and killed around 1,000 people in the Rabaa Square massacre in August 2013,” it wrote.

During his visit, Sisi is due to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover.

Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in mid-2013 by the army, which was headed at the time by Sisi.