Egypt’s UNESCO candidate not qualified, says rights lawyer

8 October 2017, 7:00 pm

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A top Egyptian rights lawyer says the country’s candidate for UNESCO’s top job is not qualified for the post because of her silence and “sometimes complicity” in the government’s repressive policies.

Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, says that he had sought in vain to enlist Moushira Khattab’s help after security agents stormed three of six libraries he set up in poor neighborhoods with prize money from a rights award he won.

After promising to help, Khattab told him the courts would have the final say on the matter, a stance later repeated by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Eid says there was no court case on the closures.

Khattab did not respond to messages by The Associated Press seeking comment.

— AP