Category: Egypt

A large blast near police headquarters in central Cairo on Friday killed at least two people and wounded many others, security and medical sources said. Three security sources said a car bomb was the likely cause of the explosion, which damaged the building and sent smoke rising over the city centre Three explosions struck the Egyptian capital on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring almost 60, on the eve of the third anniversary of the country’s 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak . At 6.30am a powerful car bomb exploded outside the Cairo police headquarters, killing at least four people and injuring 50. Several hours later, an explosion targeted police vehicles near an underground station in western Cairo, […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

Egyptian Refining Co. (ERC) is set to start construction on its long-delayed grassroots refining upgrade project to be built within the existing Mostorod Petroleum Complex (MPC), 20 km northeast of Cairo in Qalyoubia Governate, Egypt. Construction on the $3.7 billion project, which is designed to address Egypt’s demand for petroleum products and reduce the country’s dependence on imports, is scheduled to begin in late February or early March 2014, ERC’s Chief Executive Tom Thomason recently told OGJ. Unique undertaking A joint-development of both the private sector and Egypt’s government, the ERC project includes the construction of a hydrocracking and coking complex within the walls of government-owned Cairo Oil Refinery Co.’s (CORC) 145,000-b/d refinery, the nation’s largest. Once completed, the hydrocracking and coking plant—which will receive 67% of its feedstock from CORC in the form of fuel oil—will have the capacity to produce more than 4.1 million tonnes/year of refined […]

Click here to view full article at www.ogj.com

Egypt’s military has stepped up security along the Suez Canal, a vital oil shipping artery that’s one of the world’s most strategically important waterways, to protect it from attack amid a swelling jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula. There were at least two jihadist operations in 2013 on the canal — 120 miles long and 900 yards wide, most of which is vulnerable to attack. No serious attacks have been reported since then but a study by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy warns the military-led government "appears increasingly incapable" of curbing such strikes and that "ships in the canal risk future attacks." "There is concern that militants could successfully disrupt shipments through the Suez Canal, such as sinking a large vessel and blocking the canal for a period of time," the report, written by Middle East analyst Stephen Starr, concluded. […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Egyptians who voted in a referendum overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, official sources said, citing early results of a ballot that could set the stage for army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president. About 90 percent of voters approved the constitution, the state news agency and a government official said. It comes as no surprise: the constitution won wide support among Egyptians who backed the army overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi in July, and there was little or no trace of a no campaign as the state presses a campaign on dissent. Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which is sure to dispute the official numbers, had called for a boycott of the two-day vote, seeing it as part of a coup against a leader freely elected 18 months ago. It had called for anti-government protests. After nine people were killed in clashes between […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

After crushing the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt’s military rulers plan to undermine the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the neighboring Gaza Strip, senior Egyptian security officials told Reuters. The aim, which the officials say could take years to pull off, includes working with Hamas’s political rivals Fatah and supporting popular anti-Hamas activities in Gaza, four security and diplomatic officials said. Since it seized power in Egypt last summer, Egypt’s military has squeezed Gaza’s economy by destroying most of the 1,200 tunnels used to smuggle food, cars and weapons to the coastal enclave, which is under an Israeli blockade. Now Cairo is becoming even more ambitious in its drive to eradicate what it says are militant organizations that threaten its national security. Intelligence operatives, with help from Hamas’s political rivals and activists, plan to undermine the credibility of Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Egyptians are to vote in a referendum on a new constitution, which could pave the way for fresh elections. The new charter aims to replace the constitution passed under Islamist President Mohammed Morsi months before he was ousted by the army. Correspondents say the military wants a strong "Yes" vote as a popular endorsement of Mr Morsi’s removal. Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has since been designated a terrorist group, has called for a boycott. A huge security operation is being mounted amid fears of violence. The interior ministry says 200,000 police officers, 150 central security units and 200 combat groups are being deployed around polling stations on both days of voting. Egyptian soldiers stand guard outside a school being used as a polling station Advertisements in […]

Click here to view full article at www.bbc.co.uk

Click here to view full article at www.washingtonpost.com

They hide in safe houses on the outskirts of this city, talk only fleetingly on cellphones and avoid the cafes where they used to meet. Heavy scarves obscure their identities when they venture out to join protests. The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, now outlawed, have adjusted to life underground, even while hundreds of their fellow members have been arrested in this city since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, and the Egyptian government branded the group a terrorist movement. Yet, rather than crack and disintegrate under the pressure, members say, the group has fallen back on the organizational structure that sustained it for decades as a banned and secretive movement. It is becoming more decentralized, but also more cohesive and rigid, as its members abandon activities like preaching and social work and shift their attention to a virtually singular goal: resistance to […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

At least two people were killed and nine others injured on Friday in clashes across Egypt between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and security forces, health ministry said. Following the Friday prayers, hundreds of Morsi’s supporters took to main squares in Egypt to protest against the armed forces, the police and the new draft constitution. One of the death cases was reported in Faiyum governorate, where the other one was killed in the coastal city of Alexandria. The protesters in the Faysal district in Giza hurled Molotov Cocktail at an armored police vehicle and set it on fire. They also blocked the roads and fired at police officers, the official news agency MENA reported. State TV’s footage showed hundreds of Morsi’s loyalists protested in eastern Cairo’s Nasr City, carrying posters against the interim government and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who led the […]

Click here to view full article at news.xinhuanet.com

An Egyptian judge says Jan. 28 has been set as opening day for the third trial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of organizing prison breaks with the help of foreign militants. Judge Medhat Idriss says the Cairo Appeals Court set the date Thursday. The jailbreaks took place during the January 2011 uprising against Morsi’s predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was jailed in Cairo at the time and escaped with more than 30 others, while more than 20,000 inmates escaped from prisons across Egypt, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian militant Hamas members. Morsi faces three trials on various charges, most of which carry the death penalty, from conspiring with foreign groups to inciting violence that led to the killings of protesters during his year in power. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

An Egyptian judge says Jan. 28 has been set as opening day for the third trial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, this one on charges of organizing prison breaks with the help of foreign militants. Judge Medhat Idriss says the Cairo Appeals Court set the date Thursday. The jailbreaks took place during the January 2011 uprising against Morsi’s predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was jailed in Cairo at the time and escaped with more than 30 others, while more than 20,000 inmates escaped from prisons across Egypt, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian militant Hamas members. Morsi faces three trials on various charges, most of which carry the death penalty, from conspiring with foreign groups to inciting violence that led to the killings of protesters during his year in power. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Texas independent oil & gas explorer IPR announced the discovery of a significant gas condensate field in its Alamein Concession located in the Western Desert of Egypt.  IPR, operator of the Concession, pursued a new play concept for several years targeting the untapped Alam El-Bueib (AEB) formation in the Yidma-11X well.  The discovery well, located 80 miles (130 km) southwest of the city of Alexandria, encountered both gas and condensate at a depth of 12,000 ft.  The well tested 14.3 million cubic ft/day of gas and 1,000 bbls/day of condensate of 53 deg API gravity with no water produced.  This primary target of the AEB was discovered by IPR after subsurface imaging of high quality 3D seismic revealed bright spots in this region of the Alamein Ridge.  While no gas has been found in this formation in this region of the Western Desert, it appears that commercial quantities […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

Egypt’s government is likely to call a presidential election before parliamentary polls, officials said on Monday, rearranging the political timetable in a way that could see army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi elected head of state by April. Parliamentary elections were supposed to happen first under the roadmap unveiled after the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July after mass protests against his rule. But critics have campaigned for a change, saying the country needs an elected leader to direct government at a time of economic and political crisis and to forge a political alliance before a potentially divisive parliamentary election. Opponents say it risks creating a president with unchecked power. Were that Sisi, who is widely tipped to win the vote, it would restore the army’s sway over a post controlled by military men until Mursi was propelled to office last year by the […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says security forces have arrested journalists working for the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera network over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, the leading Islamist group that was last week branded as a "terrorist" organization. The network said Monday that four of its Cairo team – correspondent Peter Greste, producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and cameraman Mohamed Fawzy – are in custody since Sunday night. Al-Jazeera says it’s demanding their immediate release. The ministry says only two Al-Jazeera staff were arrested, an Australian journalist and a second person, a Brotherhood member. It says they were meeting at a five-star Cairo hotel that is used to "spread rumors harming national security." Egypt’s military-backed government has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias because Qatar is perceived to have supported the Brotherhood. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says security forces have arrested journalists working for the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera network over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, the leading Islamist group that was last week branded as a "terrorist" organization. The network said Monday that four of its Cairo team – correspondent Peter Greste, producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and cameraman Mohamed Fawzy – are in custody since Sunday night. Al-Jazeera says it’s demanding their immediate release. The ministry says only two Al-Jazeera staff were arrested, an Australian journalist and a second person, a Brotherhood member. It says they were meeting at a five-star Cairo hotel that is used to "spread rumors harming national security." Egypt’s military-backed government has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias because Qatar is perceived to have supported the Brotherhood. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Defying the widening crackdown against them, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood marched in cities across Egypt on Friday, protesting the government’s decision to declare the group a terrorist organization and clashing with security forces in several places. At least three people were killed in Cairo, Damietta and Minya on Friday, as officers fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters who threw rocks, burned tires and set fire to police vehicles. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said it had arrested 265 people across the country, illustrating the government’s resolve to move forcefully against the Brotherhood, the government’s principal political opponent. Most of the group’s leadership and thousands of its members are already in prison, having been rounded up during a sustained assault on the movement after the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, in July. The state’s security services have killed hundreds of Mr. […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

Breaking news Supporters of banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt set fire to university building in Cairo, state TV says More to follow.

Click here to view full article at www.bbc.co.uk

Egyptian security forces fired tear gas at dozens of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi as authorities tighten security measures in the capital after renewed calls for mass rallies. Anti-riot police chased student protesters chanting against the military and the police at the Islamic Al-Azhar University on Friday. Similar clashes took place Thursday night, leaving one person dead, as anti-Morsi civilians joined in the fighting with protesters, according to Egypt’s official news agency. Clashes also erupted Friday in two other districts of the capital. Armored vehicles closed main squares and city centers in Cairo and other major cities after Morsi’s group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and its allies announced now protests in defiance of the interim government’s latest move labeling the group as a terrorist organization. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Egyptian security officials inspect the damaged bus that was targeted by a bomb in Nasr City district, Cairo, Egypt A crude explosive device on a Cairo street injured five people on a bus on Thursday morning, deepening the sense of crisis in Egypt after a massive car bomb earlier this week which killed 16 people at a security headquarters in the northern town of Mansoura. The latest bloodshed came just hours after the military-backed government formally designated as a “terrorist organisation” the Muslim Brotherhood group of Mohamed Morsi , Egypt’s first elected president, ousted by a popularly backed coup in July. In a statement late on Wednesday night, clearly intended to seal the expulsion from politics of the Islamist group which led in elections held over the past three years, the government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of “terrorist” activities, including carrying out the Mansoura attack. It comes less than […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

he Egyptian government intensified its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, formally listing the group as a terrorist organization after accusing it of carrying out a suicide bomb attack on a police station that killed 16 people. The move marked a major escalation in the army-backed government’s campaign to suppress the Islamist movement that propelled Mohamed Mursi to the presidency 18 months ago but has been driven underground since the army toppled him in July. It gives the authorities the power to charge any member of the Brotherhood with belonging to a terrorist group, as well as anyone who finances the group or promotes it "verbally, or in writing". "This is a turning point in the confrontation. This is an important tool for the government to close any door in the face of the Brotherhood’s return to political life," said Khalil al-Anani, a Washington-based expert […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

An Egyptian security official says a suicide car bomber is suspected to have been behind the deadly explosion that targeted the police headquarters in a Nile Delta city the day before. The attack killed 15 people, mostly police officers, and wounded over 100. It was the deadliest bombing yet in a months-long wave of violence blamed on Islamic militants. The official said Wednesday the investigation has shown that a bomber drove a pickup truck laden with explosives close to the police headquarters in the northern city of Mansoura, then detonated it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Tuesday’s bombing brought down an entire section of the police headquarters, incinerated dozens of cars and police vehicles and damaged several buildings. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Egypt has made a partial payment on the money it owes to international energy firms in a bid to revive confidence in its flagging hydrocarbon sector, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. Egypt has an energy debt of around $6.4 billion. It has been paying hefty premiums for its crude supplies due to the weak Egyptian pound and dwindling foreign currency reserves. It has also been facing a slowdown in oil and gas exploration activities due to continuing civil unrest following the removal of president Hosni Mubarak from office in 2011. "Some companies already received last week some payments as part of a $1.5 billion deal we agreed to pay before the end of this year," an Egyptian oil official who asked not be named told The Wall Street Journal. "The rest of the $1.5 billion will be paid to the companies this week as […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

A bomb blast tore through a police compound in Egypt’s Nile Delta on Tuesday, killing 12 people and wounding 134 in one of the deadliest attacks since the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. The army-backed government vowed to fight "black terrorism", saying the blast an hour after midnight in the city of Mansoura north of Cairo would not derail a political transition plan whose next step is a January referendum on a new constitution. With eight policemen among the dead, the blast pointed to the risk of militancy moving to the densely populated Nile Valley from the Sinai Peninsula, where attacks have killed some 200 members of the security forces since Mursi’s downfall. "We face an enemy that has no religion or nation," Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, the survivor of an assassination attempt in September, said while inspecting the scene of the blast, […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Clashes between the police and students in Egypt have intensified in recent weeks, partly shutting some of the country’s top universities and taking a heavy toll on demonstrators. At least two students have been killed and hundreds more injured or arrested since early November. Since the start of the Arab Spring protests, in 2010, Egyptian universities have experienced their fair share of tumult. But recently the situation has reached a fever pitch. The ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July triggered student protests against the military-backed government, resulting in a crackdown by security forces. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, an Egyptian group that monitors academic freedom, has denounced a “widespread violation of universities’ independence and the rights and freedoms of their students.” Protests have taken place at universities across the country — most notably at the Islamic university of Al-Azhar and at Cairo University. […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

An al-Qaida-inspired group in Egypt’s volatile Sinai has warned the country’s military and police, urging troops to desert their ranks or face death at the hands of its fighters. Ansar Jerusalem, or Ansar Beit al-Maqdis as the group is known, said in a statement on militant websites Monday that it considers Egyptian troops to be infidels because they answer to a secular government. If the warning is ignored, Ansar Jerusalem says it "will be more determined to fight" the military and police. Like other Sinai-based militant groups, Ansar Jerusalem has been blamed for rising attacks against Egypt’s forces since a July coup toppled the country’s former Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The group has also said it was behind a September suicide bombing that targeted Egypt’s interior minister, who escaped unharmed. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

An al-Qaida-inspired group in Egypt’s volatile Sinai has warned the country’s military and police, urging troops to desert their ranks or face death at the hands of its fighters. Ansar Jerusalem, or Ansar Beit al-Maqdis as the group is known, said in a statement on militant websites Monday that it considers Egyptian troops to be infidels because they answer to a secular government. If the warning is ignored, Ansar Jerusalem says it "will be more determined to fight" the military and police. Like other Sinai-based militant groups, Ansar Jerusalem has been blamed for rising attacks against Egypt’s forces since a July coup toppled the country’s former Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The group has also said it was behind a September suicide bombing that targeted Egypt’s interior minister, who escaped unharmed. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

The world’s population broke the 7 billion person barrier in 2011 and is projected to increase by 40 percent in the coming forty years. Population growth averages vary among the world’s nations, with the populations of developed nations expected to increase by just 10 percent, and the greater part of population growth expected to come from developing nations, especially the least developed, where population is expected to double in the coming four decades. So what about Egypt’s population outlook? Egyptian census data shows that in 1948, Egypt’s population reached nearly twenty million, added another twenty million by 1975, twenty million more by 1994, with the populace reaching sixty million. Another twenty million over the next seventeen years means eighty million Egyptians by 2011. Egyptians needed thousands of years to reach the first twenty million, before managing to double several times in a few years, without creating a […]

Click here to view full article at www.aucegypt.edu

A court in Egypt has sentenced 21 female supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to 11 years in prison. They were found guilty of multiple charges, including belonging to a terrorist group, obstructing traffic, sabotage and using force at a protest in the city of Alexandria last month. Seven are under 18 years of age and will be sent to a juvenile prison. Human rights groups criticised the sentences, with one campaigner describing the verdict as madness. The women and girls had taken part in an early morning demonstration in support of Mr Morsi. Relatives say it was the first protest by the group, called the 7am movement, and that it was peaceful. One family told the BBC their 15-year-old daughter was only passing by on her way to school. A defence lawyer said the women expected to be sentenced to a […]

Click here to view full article at www.bbc.co.uk

The riot police brought a violent end to peaceful protests here on Tuesday, beating, sexually harassing and detaining some of Egypt’s most prominent human rights activists in a burst of repression that seemed likely to broaden opposition to the military-backed government. The crackdown was the highest-profile police action against non-Islamist protesters since July 3, when the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi , setting off months of bloody civil conflict between Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters and the state. While the deadly repression of Islamists in recent months has evoked little sympathy from the public or consternation among officials, the violence on Tuesday posed a bigger threat to the government, which has relied on support from non-Islamists. In scenes that spread on social media, activists who have played central roles in Egypt’s post-revolt struggles were manhandled and groped by officers, some in plain clothes, and shoved into police vans. […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

Egypt’s state news agency says the prosecutor general has ordered a four-day detention for 24 activists detained while protesting a newly passed law criminalizing demonstrations without permits. MENA also says the prosecutor on Wednesday issued arrest warrants for two leading activists accused of inciting demonstrators. He also released more than 10 female protesters. Witnesses say the women were released in the desert in the middle of the night. On Tuesday, security forces used water cannons to break up the demonstration outside Cairo’s upper house of parliament, where protesters denounced a proposed constitutional amendment allowing military courts to try civilians. Many observers said police behavior was reminiscent of the days former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s longtime autocrat ousted in 2011.

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

When the new military-backed Egyptian government lifted a nationwide state of emergency more than 10 days ago, it seemed to be proclaiming a momentary victory in the battle with its principal foe, the Muslim Brotherhood, whose regular protests had begun to wither. But the government’s problems hardly abated. In brazen and occasionally spectacular attacks, militants have stepped up a campaign of assassinations and bombings aimed at the security services. Non-Islamist critics have accused the government of incompetence or growing authoritarianism, potentially broadening the opposition beyond supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the deposed Islamist president. At the same time, unrest has begun to surface in different places, lately sweeping up Islamist students on university campuses. And notably, small cracks have begun to appear in the coalition that supported the ouster of Mr. Morsi as the government has faced anger from recent allies and rare criticism in the once-fawning local […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

Egypt’s military-backed government has issued a law that all but bans street protests by applying jail time or heavy fines to the public demonstrations that have felled the last two presidents and regularly roiled the capital since the Arab Spring revolt. The new law, promulgated on Sunday, is the latest evidence of a return to authoritarianism in the aftermath of the military takeover that removed President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July. It criminalizes the kind of free assembly and public expression that many Egyptians had embraced as a cherished foundation of their new democracy after the 2011 ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. And the relatively muted outcry against the law, mainly from human rights advocates, demonstrated how far public sentiment has swung. Rights activists said the new law appeared even stricter than those in place under Mr. Mubarak. It effectively replaces a three-month “state […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

Egyptian security forces on Monday fired tear gas to disperse university students who had defied a new law that restricts demonstrations, the state news agency reported. Students of Al-Azhar University and Assiut University in Assiut province, south of Cairo, staged a protest, chanting against the army and police in defiance of the new law, passed on Sunday, which bans protests without prior police approval. In the first application of the new law, the Interior Ministry approved requests on Monday for protests by lawyers and political activists in front of the lawyers’ syndicate in Cairo and the State Council in Giza, it said on its Facebook page. In another statement, it issued a warning to supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, who it said were planning a protest on Tuesday in Giza province, near the pyramids, with the goal of disrupting traffic and harming tourism. “The Interior Ministry is determined to […]

Click here to view full article at america.aljazeera.com

Egypt’s interim president on Sunday banned public gatherings of more than 10 people without prior government approval, imposing hefty fines and prison terms for violators in a bid to stifle the near-constant protests roiling the country. The new law is more restrictive than regulations used under the rule of former dictator Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in Egypt’s 2011 uprising that marked the start of unrest in the country. Rights groups and activists immediately denounced the ban, saying it aims to stifle opposition, allows repressive police practices and keeps security officials largely unaccountable for possible abuses. “The law is giving a cover to justify repression by all means,” said Bahy Eddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, one of the local groups that had campaigned against the law. The military-backed government first floated the law in October. Interim President Adly Mansour approved a slightly amended version Sunday, […]

Click here to view full article at america.aljazeera.com

Egypt’s interim president on Sunday banned public gatherings of more than 10 people without prior government approval, imposing hefty fines and prison terms for violators in a bid to stifle the near-constant protests roiling the country. The new law is more restrictive than regulations used under the rule of former dictator Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in Egypt’s 2011 uprising that marked the start of unrest in the country. Rights groups and activists immediately denounced the ban, saying it aims to stifle opposition, allows repressive police practices and keeps security officials largely unaccountable for possible abuses. “The law is giving a cover to justify repression by all means,” said Bahy Eddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, one of the local groups that had campaigned against the law. The military-backed government first floated the law in October. Interim President Adly Mansour approved a slightly amended version Sunday, […]

Click here to view full article at america.aljazeera.com

In Egypt, misery just keeps piling on and, fittingly, the nation is officially in mourning. Political violence and unrest have plagued Egypt since the ouster in 2011 of longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak, but a flurry of deadly incidents this week appears to have touched a raw nerve in the nation’s psyche, with many Egyptians abandoning hopes for democracy and freedom and instead embracing a grim view of the future. “I think the time has come for everyone to acknowledge that the only thing this country can offer us is nightmares,” prominent activist Mona Seif wrote despairingly on her Twitter account Thursday. “It is futile that, every now and then, we try to find an excuse to be happy or optimistic.” The interim, military-backed president, Adly Mansour, announced a three-day state of national mourning Wednesday to honor 39 Egyptians who died this week. They […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

An Egyptian court sentenced 12 supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi to 17 years in prison for taking part in a violent student-led protest, state media reported. The official MENA news agency reported that the protesters were convicted of attacking the headquarters of the Islamic Al-Azhar institution during the protest. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement said on its website that all those sentenced were students at Al-Azhar’s university. The men were arrested after protesters in October tried to storm Al-Azhar’s head office, which supported the military’s overthrow of Morsi. The men will be allowed to post 64,000 Egyptian pounds ($9,300) bail while they appeal the sentences. More than 1,000 people, most of them Morsi supporters or opponents of  the military-led coup, have been killed in clashes with police since he was removed in July. Thousands have been arrested, with many going to trial. Fourteen suspected Morsi supporters who were on […]

Click here to view full article at america.aljazeera.com