Egypt shreds satirical novel 'Sisi's Scandals' to avoid wrath of president

The New Arab's Arabic-language service reported on Sunday that while checking through inventory, staff at Rose al-Youssuf recently found copies of a 1994 satirical novel titled "Mr Sisi's Scandals".

The long-forgotten about work is about a corrupt civil servant with a penchant for womanising who happens to share the same family as Egypt's authoritarian leader.

Sources inside the establishment said that staff did not know what to do with the copies of the book that they uncovered during a routine inventory check.

"They put the old books in a corner of the stockroom… until a member of staff with close contacts to security services reported the find," the report said.

"Security services immediately contacted the publisher's management… and ordered that all copies be shredded," it added.

This is not the first time that the Egyptian government has shown its lack of a sense of humour when it comes to the president.

Several politically-focused comedians have been detained or forced to flee the country since Sisi came to power in a 2013 military take over.

In 2015, a 22-year-old Facebook user was sentenced to three years in prison after posting a photoshopped photo of Sisi with Mickey Mouse ears.

Authorities have also banned street vendors from selling a popular children's toy that are known widely as "Sisi's testicles".

Sisi came to power after leading a military takeover against the country's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sisi has since installed a repressive regime that has jailed thousands of political opponents.

Young people in Egypt widely make fun of the general-turned-president on social media and have given him the disparaging nickname balaha after a famous mental health patient from a 1980s film.

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