CAIRO — Egypt has hired an undisclosed US public relations firm to counter negative reports about the country and boost its image abroad. Government officials expect the effort to improve investment in Egypt, while activists see it as an attempt to cover up or gloss over economic hardship and human rights violations. The Dec. 23 announcement ignited social media reactions against the government.

Yet as recently as this week President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied on "60 Minutes" a Human Rights Watch report that Egypt is holding 60,000 political prisoners.

Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said Dec. 23 at a meeting with the parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee that her ministry has contracted an American public relations firm, though she did not reveal the firm’s name or the contract’s duration and cost.

During the meeting, which focused on Egypt’s investment strategy from July 2018 to 2022, Nasr said the contract is designed to help counter "evil people who circulate political, economic and security reports against Egypt and the regime." She was referring to the Muslim Brotherhood's Sunni Islamist political movement outlawed in Egypt.