Chairman of Egypt’s leading newspaper resigns

The chairman of Egypt’s biggest-selling state-owned newspaper, Al-Ahram, resigned Wednesday after protesting about interference in the running of the publication.

Ahmed El-Sayed Al-Naggar had been among prominent journalists who criticised the government’s transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in April last year.

The transfer led to accusations that President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was “selling” territory to the oil-rich kingdom, which has shored up Egypt’s faltering economy to the tune of billions of dollars since Sisi seized power in 2013.

The National Press Commission, which runs state newspapers, accepted Naggar’s resignation and appointed a temporary replacement, state television reported on its website.

Commission head Karam Jabr recently announced “imminent changes” among the chairmen and editors of national newspapers.

Established in 1875, the newspaper distributes around a million copies a day and is one of the most widely read in the Middle East.