Egypt’s Sisi appoints son’s father-in-law to restructure media sector 

Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has reappointed his son’s father-in-law and old friend, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Hijazi, to work on a number of political and strategic files including restructuring the state-owned media.

On 28 October 2017, Al-Sisi replaced Hijazi with Lieutenant-General Mohamed Farid Hijazi as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and appointed him as presidential adviser for strategic planning and crisis management, a post created to remove him from public circles.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site quoted informed government sources as saying that under the new post, Hijazi will be able to dismantle or integrate national press institutions and the Radio and Television Union (Maspero) and review the finances of organisations in this sector.

Al-Sisi’s son, Mahmoud, who has recently been assigned a long-term position in Moscow has failed to handle the file, despite cooperating with general intelligence officers, the National Media Authority and a number of journalists affiliated with the general intelligence service.

READ: Egypt paper raided after revelations about Sisi’s son