# Hard talk



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I love this program and I think this one will be very interesting.




I find myself shaking hands with Egypt's new minister of information, a dapper former journalist called Osama Heikal.

Just months into the job, he exhibits the slippery skills of a veteran. The killing of more than two dozen Copts was unfortunate, he concedes, but the army is investigating. The state of emergency will be ended just as soon as stability has been restored.

As I am heading out of the ministry compound, one of his staff approaches. I suspect he is going to berate me for my impertinent questioning of his boss.

Instead he slaps me on the back.

"Great interview," he says. "What a liar that guy is. They still think they can say what they like and the people will believe them.

"But they can't, not any more."

Stephen Sackur will be reporting from Egypt for HARDtalk on the Road broadcast from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 November 2011 on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News.


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