Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia – 2018/05/03

Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry told Radio Islam on Thursday morning that the rise of Liverpool ‘star forward’ Mohammed Salah is a concern for the Sisi regime in Egypt.

Sabry claims that there is no option for Egyptians except for applauding the regime ‘very loudly, boisterously and publicly’.

“The Sisi regime expects anyone who’s successful to be a promoter of the regime automatically. We have seen examples before of those who became very prominent, super successful and have actually faced problems simply because they did not tow the line and promote the regime.”

Sabry says no one knows what the personal life of Salah is like, which is why he cannot understand why regime loyalists are arguing that the footballer is ‘too religious’.

“I don’t know where the regime loyalists or anyone gets the idea that Mohammed Salah is a religious player or even is religious on a personal level. We don’t know what his beliefs are like and truly it’s none of our business.”

Sabry says a bogus statement from the ‘regime loyalists’ claim that Salah looks like a terrorist.

“[They basically saying] he should shave his beard, Egypt is in a war with terrorism, which is again the continued motto of this regime and accordingly he has to shave his beard, which is making everyone tow the regimes line.”

Sabry adds that the ‘goal’ of the regime is to have someone as prominent and internationally recognised as Mohammed Salah to represent them.

He says the regime has used Mohammed Salah’s photograph in recent weeks to promote themselves.

“Using his photo, his personal right without even asking him to promote themselves – this is just a little bit of what could happen.”

Sabry claims that the Egyptian regime does not care about scandals or international condemnation.

“We’ve seen this regime lock up foreign journalists, we’ve seen them target very successful and respected personalities either Egyptian or foreigners.”

Its nice to see my first contribution to @AJEnglish, which happens to be the first time I ever write about anything related football, becoming the number 1 trending article on AJ’s website.
“Mo Salah: The Egyptian king’s imminent face-off with tyranny.”https://t.co/wNUg4ZICfi pic.twitter.com/r5VTOEslJO

— Mohannad Sabry (@mmsabry) May 2, 2018

Salah’s performances on the field has caught the imagination of millions in a way that no sportsman has before.

However, Salah is not the only Arab or Muslim footballer in the Premier League. His teammates Sadio Mane of Senegal and Emre Can of Turkish descent are also Muslim.

There are Manchester United’s French midfielder Paul Pogba, Leicester’s tricky Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez and Arsenal’s German midfield maestro Mesut Ozil, to name a few.

In addition – for the first time ever, four Arab teams including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Morocco have all qualified for next month’s World Cup in Russia.

Listen to the full interview with Mohannad Sabry below: