Ramy Shaath, an activist who spent two and a half years imprisoned, has described Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el Sisi as a “banana republic,” Monte Carlo International reported on Wednesday. Shaath was freed on 6 January after he was forced to renounce his Egyptian nationality. He was a member of several secular political groups in Egypt and a co-founder of Egypt’s pro-Palestinian BDS movement. Upon release, Shaath was handed to a representative of the Palestinian Authority in Cairo before being flown to Jordan and then to France. Monte Carlo reported Shaath as saying that he was detained along with 1,800 prisoners; “all of them were detained without committing violent crimes, but on grounds related to their opinions.” He stated … Continue reading Egypt has become a ‘banana republic’ under Sisi, freed activist says