GERMANY-EGYPT/MILITARY HONOURS Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is welcomed in Berlin with military honours

Record ID: 150009

  • Title: GERMANY-EGYPT/MILITARY HONOURS Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is welcomed in Berlin with military honours
  • Date: 3rd June 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS GAUCK AND AL-SISI RECEIVING MILITARY HONOURS
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAF1YE4RPDUQQRQXP7VCE73TSRD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was welcomed with military honours on his arrivals in Berlin on Wednesday (June 3). German President Joachim Gauck received the Egyptian leader in front of his official residence Bellevue while protesters gathered outside, holding caricatures of Sisi, depicting him with a blood-stained sword and hanging gallows, chanting "You don't meet up with a child murderer" and "We want democracy".
    After his meeting with Gauck, Sisi is scheduled for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
    Egyptian authorities have cracked down hard on the Islamist, secular and liberal opposition alike since then-army chief al-Sisi toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
    On Tuesday (June 2), an Egyptian court postponed issuing a final ruling over a death sentence recommendation for Mursi and other top Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
    Egyptian activists say political dissent is being stifled as officials from former autocrat Hosni Mubarak's police state are gradually rehabilitated.
    Egypt's government says it is committed to the country's democratic transition.
    Bundestag President Norbert Lammert announced last month that he would not meet Sisi when he came to Berlin on Wednesday. In a letter to the Egyptian ambassador, he cited "a systematic crackdown on opposition groups, with mass arrests, long prison sentences and an unbelievable number of death sentences".
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