Ines Abdel Dayem, the former head of Cairo Opera who was fired under Mursi’s reign, has been appointed Egypt’s new culture minister. (Photo courtesy: Ahram Online)
The former head of the Cairo opera, who was sacked by ousted President Mohamed Mursi’s Islamist government, has been named Egypt’s new culture minister by the country’s new military-backed interim government.
Ines Abdel Dayem was fired as head of the Cairo Opera House by Mursi’s culture minister in May.
Her sacking, along with an Islamist parliamentarian’s call for a ban on ballet, prompted performers and cultural figures to stage a sit-in at the culture ministry lasting several weeks.
Dayem, a French-educated flautist, announced on Monday that she had accepted the post of culture minister in the interim government being set up by Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi.
Beblawi has selected mostly liberals and technocrats for a cabinet to run Egypt under an army-backed road map after the military’s overthrow of Mursi on July 3.
