Arabic press review: Why it's 'cool' to be an Egyptian prisoner

Thousands of prisoners denied trials in Egypt now have the luxury of air-con in buses. In other news, an Algerian researcher has a cure for lying

Egyptian prisoners get some air before their trial (AFP)

Mohammad Ayesh- Monday 7 August 2017

In the cooler

Egyptian prisoners are benefiting from new facilities and comforts, including air-conditioned buses and cells for people with special needs, according to the Cairo newspaper al-Mesryoon.

Mahmoud Khallaf, the director of prison administration, said jails are now equipped with modern and reliable buses, and up-to-date care facilities. He said the buses also have security cars and ambulances ready to intervene in case of an emergency.

There are tens of thousands of political prisoners in Egypt who have not been granted the right to a trial. Human rights organisations also speak of widespread violations committed in Egyptian prisons, including denying some prisoners the right to be treated.

Al Jazeera in Jerusalem (Reuters)

Israel 'joins siege of Qatar'

Israel's plans to shut down Al Jazeera's offices in Jerusalem marks its entry into the Gulf dispute on the side of the Saudi-led coalition of four Arab states, according to the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.

Israel has seized the opportunity in what has been a long campaign to remove Al Jazeera, according to published in London on Monday.       

Saudi security officer turns to 'IS'

The Saudi daily al-Hayat newspaper reported that a Saudi court in Riyadh has sentenced a security officer to prison for joining IS.

The charges included "training in IS camps, leading an armed group affiliated with IS, participating in its military operations, meeting its leaders" and "returning to Saudi Arabia and leading a cell aimed at carrying out terrorist operations at Arar airport, targeting foreign embassies, officials and officers".

You couldn't make it up

After five years of work, the Algerian researcher Rachid Moussaoui has designed a computer programme to combat lying in society through psychoanalysis, according to the Algerian newspaper, Echourouk. 

In what is billed as the first of its kind in the world, the programme starts with diagnosis and analysis moving to thinking, action and reaction, and then to the classification of different types of behaviour.

The newspaper said that Morocco, Tunisia and Canada expressed their interest in the project.