Thank you for the excellent piece by Jack Shenker (A dictator comes to town: what is Abdel Fatah al-Sisi here for?, 31 October). We do need to remember, though, that David Cameron’s visit to revolutionary Tahrir in 2011 was a stop-over tacked on to a long-scheduled arms-peddling tour of the Gulf. His companions were eight of Britain’s top arms dealers (Cameron takes arms firm chiefs on trade tour of Arab states, 22 February 2011). This is why Laila Soueif, my sister, said it didn’t surprise her that he was hosting the general. Her main sentiment, which did not get included, was: “It warms my heart to see that many are protesting against this visit in solidarity with the Egyptian victims of the Sisi regime.”
Ahdaf Soueif
London
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