28 April 2020; MEMO: The Arabic hashtag “irhal ya Sisi” (You must go, Sisi) was among the top trending hashtags on Twitter after the government announced that it has requested yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Twitter users expressed their anger at President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi for forcing the country into heavy debts. Last year Egypt received the last instalment of a $12 billion loan from the IMF.
Twitter users also criticised what they described as the Egyptian government’s failure to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. They made fun of the fact that Egypt is seeking aid when it is providing medical equipment to China, Italy, the UK and the United States.
Al-Sisi became president in 2014 in a controversial presidential election that was held after he led a military coup that ousted late President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Since the coup, an unprecedented crackdown on dissent has seen thousands of Egyptians behind bars, either facing trial in politicised cases or being held in prolonged extrajudicial, pre-emptive detention pending trial. Continued arrests over the past years have also been accompanied by enforced disappearances that are denied by Al-Sisi and the government.
