Egyptian Media to Limit Criticism of Government

A group of Egyptian newspaper editors pledged to limit their criticism of state institutions, a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, warned of a “conspiracy” behind a militant attack that killed at least 31 soldiers. The editors said they condemned the attack, which occurred in the Sinai Peninsula, while promising to confront the “hostile culture toward the national project and the foundations of the Egyptian state.” The statement raised the likelihood of growing limits on dissent, and appeared to be an attempt to please President Sisi, who drastically sharpened his own tone in dealing with the simmering Islamist insurgency centered in the Sinai Peninsula that escalated after the military takeover in July 2013.