It evokes “a gesture that is as serious as it is purely symbolic” and “sentimental”. Italian journalist and writer Corrado Augias announced on Sunday that he would restore his Legion of Honor on Monday in protest to that granted to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“Tomorrow, Monday December 14th, I will go to the French embassy to restore the Legion of Honor, writes the person concerned in a letter published in the left-wing daily La Repubblica. […] I feel that I owe it because of the deep emotional and emotional bond I have with France, ”her father’s homeland.
“In my opinion, President (French Emmanuel) Macron should not have granted the Legion of Honor to a head of state who has objectively been complicit in atrocious criminals. I say this for the memory of poor Giulio Regeni, but also for France, for the importance that this distinction still represents, two centuries after having been established ”, specifies the author, decorated in 2007 and today aged 85 years.
Repression
This former member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999, who also conducted television programs in the field of culture, thus refers to Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian student abducted by strangers in January 2016. His body had was found tortured and excruciatingly mutilated a few days later in the suburbs of Cairo.
VIDEO. Mohammed cartoons: the very direct exchange between Macron and al-Sisi
The affair poisons relations between Cairo and Rome, Italy regularly accusing the Egyptian authorities of not cooperating, even of directing Italian investigators on false leads. Exasperated, Italy had even temporarily recalled its ambassador. Now she is preparing to try four Egyptian officers, including a general.
Newsletter Morning essentials
A tour of the news to start the day
President Macron presented the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on Monday to President Sissi, on an official visit to France, a distinction that sparked outraged reactions on social networks due to the repression of human rights exercised in Egypt, according to humanitarian NGOs.
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
