Egypt Minister Must Resign Over Offensive Talk: Journalists Union Head

In an interview with private-owned Al-Hurra channel on Saturday, the head of Egypt’s journalists syndicate Diaa Rashwan blasted the Minister of Information Salah Abdel-Maksoud’s “inappropriate” comments to female journalists, demanding  his resignation.

Abdel-Maksoud, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, came under fire last week when a female Egyptian journalist accused him of sexual harassment after he answered a question she posed to him by saying “come and i will show you.”

The phrasing, which the minister had also used in an answer to another journalist a week earlier, is held by many Egyptians to bear sexual connotations.

Prior tothe two recent incidents, Muslim Brotherhoood member Abdel-Maksoud had been accused of sexually harassing a female Syrian television host.

“I hope your questions are not as hot as you are,” he said during an interview with the anchor before backtracking.

“As long as there is a cabinet shuffle, I demand [Abdel-Maqsoud] to resigns so that the ministry’s affairs would be administered by a ‘neutral’ board of trustees and not a political one,” added Rashwan.

On Wednesday, Presidential spokesman Ehab Fahmy stated that a cabinet reshuffle is to be expected soon, however he revealed that it will be a “limited one” and will not include Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

Ahram