she is dr nawal el saadawi. she was banned from speaking in the egyptian media and was imprisoned under the government of president sadat for her outspoken views. how much freedom of expression is there currently under president sisi and what about the status of women in egypt today? dr nawal el saadawi, welcome to hardtalk. now, president sisi was re—elected in april this year. briefly, how much democracy is there in egypt today? well, it is not less or more than democracy in britain or the united states. i look at the world as a whole. so egypt is not specifically lacking democracy. i've been travelling all over the world. i haven't seen a democratic country. do you have democracy here in britain or in the united states? shall we just stick with egypt? no. i cannot stay with egypt because i link egypt to the world. i need to make comparisons. all right, let's take one specific point. you were imprisoned in 1980 under president anwar sadat because of your very outspoken views. yes. you had said at the time that