[This is a collection of news updates on Egypt compiled from multiple sources by the editors.]
Egypt`s Morsi Faces Fresh Charge
Egypt`s prosecution charges ex-president Mohamed Morsi with `insulting the judiciary`.
Egyptian prosecutors slapped Saturday ousted president Mohamed Morsi with a fresh charge of "insulting the judicial authority.
Morsi`s detention was extended by four more days pending investigations into the new charge.
Morsi is still held incommunicado since his ouster by the armed forces following protests 3 July.
Throughout his one-year rule, Morsi`s administration was at odds with the judiciary. The peak of the confrontation came in November 2012, when Morsi released an abrupt decree sacking the prosecutor general and immunising the Islamist-led Shura Council and Constituent Assembly from judicial dissolution.
On 26 July, Morsi received his first 15-day detention order pending investigaions into espionage and jailbreak charges.
He is accused of collaborating with Hamas to orchestrate his escape from Wadi El-Natroun Prison in early 2011, as well as destroying police records during the 2011 uprising. In addition, he faces charges of espionage, and of attacking police stations with the intent to kill and abduct police officers and prisoners during the 2011 uprising.
Morsi, along with dozens of other members of the Muslim Brotherhood, escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution that toppled predecessor Hosni Mubarak. The Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbullah groups have been accused of aiding in the plot to attack prisons, resulting in the release of inmates.
Most of the Brotherhood`s top leaders are currently detained on charges of inciting violence during recent or past clashes.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Several Hundreds Protest Haitham Mohamedein`s Detention
Protesters gathered in Cairo to demand the release of labour lawyer Haitham Mohamadein, who awaits questioning in Suez after Thursday arrest.
Demonstrators gathered Saturday in front of the prosecutor general`s office in downtown Cairo to demand the release of Revolutionary Socialist Haitham Mohamedein.
Mohamedein, a labour lawyer, was arrested at a military checkpoint close to Suez Thursday and ordered detained for an extra four days Friday. He is expected to stand before the prosecution Saturday. However, the charges against him are as yet unclear.
“Until this moment we cannot state exactly why he was arrested,” Tarek Shalabi from the Revolutionary Socialists told Ahram Online. “But for him to be arrested while riding a bus with others to meet workers who needed his help, then this is a political case.”
Shalabi went on to say that for him the arrest was not unexpected, and he believes more revolutionary figures will be targeted in the coming period.
“The military are not only targeting the Islamists. They will be after any revolutionary front, that includes the Revolutionary Socialists,” said Shalabi.
Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, many Muslim Brotherhood leaders and allies have been arrested and charged with a variety of offences, mainly inciting violence.
“The capitalist state fears nothing more than labour strikes, and that`s why they’d arrest someone like Haitham,” added Shalabi.
The protest, which was called for by the Revolutionary Socialists, was also joined by members of the April 6 Youth Movement, the Egyptian Current Party, in addition to several revolutionary figures, such as activist Alaa Abdel-Fatah and TV anchor Reem Magued.
Protesters held banners demanding the “release of all detainees.” One protester held a banner saying: “Watch out you’re in the state of Mubarak.”
Demonstrators also chanted for Mohamedein, saying: “Raise your voice up and chant; Haitham has never known fear!"
Anti-military slogans chanted at the protest, such as “Down with military rule” or “El-Sisi, you butcher,” provoked some passersbys who gathered in a small demo and chanted “The people and the army are one hand.”
Protesters later moved to the nearby Journalists Syndicate to protest the detention of Sinai-based award-winning journalist Ahmed Abou Deraa who was referred to military prosecution Thursday and given 15 days in detention, pending investigations on charges of broadcasting false information about the military, communicating with "terrorist groups" in Sinai, filming military property and provoking the armed forces.
Meanwhile, another protest in solidarity with Mohamadein was held in Egypt`s second largest city of Alexandria in front of Al-Bahareyia Court on Mansheya square.
Lawyers representing Mohamedein are in Suez to attend his questioning by the prosecution, according to Ragia Omran, one of the attorneys representing him.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Clashes in Egypt Leave Two Dead, Police Eye Bomb Culprits
Morsi supporters remain defiant, holding protests in a number of cities; their numbers seem to be significantly lower than last weeks.
Clashes between protesters supporting ousted president Mohamed Morsi and local residents in several locations around Egypt led to the deaths of at least two pro-Morsi protesters on Friday, as thousands of Islamists took to the streets in another sign of defiance.
Supporters of Morsi, who was ousted by the military amid nationwide protests in early July, held demonstrations around the country against what they describe as "a military coup" despite an ongoing crackdown on pro-Morsi protests and a wave of arrests of members of his Muslim Brotherhood.
In the Nile Delta city of Damietta, Muslim Brotherhood member Ibrahim Selim was killed after a pro-Morsi rally was attacked, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
Another Morsi supporter was killed in Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, during clashes between locals and anti-Brotherhood protesters.
Twenty-three Brotherhood supporters were arrested following the clashes in the coastal city.
Although demonstrations were held in the capital, in several Nile Delta cities, in Ismailia on the Suez Canal and in Upper Egypt’s Assiut, numbers seemed to be significantly lower than previous weeks.
According to political analyst Amr El-Shobaky, the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies are constrained by the arrests of key leaders.
“The Brotherhood`s strong organisational skills are contingent on blind obedience to their leaders. With their leadership behind bars they cannot deploy their supporters effectively,” El-Shobaky told Ahram Online.
Those behind bars include Morsi himself, held incommunicado since his ouster, the group’s spiritual leader Mohamed Badie, and second-in-command Khairat El-Shater. All are facing related charges of inciting violence.
The crackdown comes after a violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on 14 August which left hundreds of protesters dead and sparked days of intense violence nationwide.
Since then, intermittent clashes have taken place between Morsi supporters, anti-Brotherhood civilians and security forces. A number of policemen and members of the security forces have also been killed in the clashes.
Thursday blast leaves one dead
On Thursday, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived a failed assassination attempt when a bomb exploded in Cairo`s Nasr City, injuring dozens. One person died from their injuries on Friday, the ministry stated.
The ministry also suggested in a statement on Friday that new information has been discovered that will help identify the culprits behind the attack.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was condemned by the Muslim Brotherhood. Since Morsi’s ouster there have been repeated attacks on security checkpoints and personnel, particularly in Sinai, although the Brotherhood has denied any links with the violence, which has killed dozens of policemen.
For the first time in over a month, modest rallies took place in several governorates in support of Egypt’s military. On 26 July, huge demonstrations took place in response to public calls by armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for the Egyptian people to give the army a “mandate to fight terrorism.” On Friday, there were several small pro-military demonstrations, including one in the suburb of Maadi in Cairo.
Crackdown on activists
Several activists called for a protest in front of the prosecutor-general’s office in downtown Cairo on Saturday to demand the release of labour lawyer and leading member of the Revolutionary Socialists, Haytham Mohamadein.
Mohamadein, who was arrested at a military checkpoint close to Suez on Thursday, was given an extra four days’ detention on Friday. The charges against him are as yet unclear.
He was not the only non-Islamist to be arrested; Ahmed Abu-Deraa, a Sinai-based reporter working for Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, was also detained on Wednesday.
Quoting an unnamed army official, the Associated Press said that Abu-Deraa faces a military investigation for allegedly publishing wrong information about an ongoing security operation in the Sinai Peninsula.
“We are before a tyrannical authority with interests very far from the revolution,” rights lawyer Gamal Eid was quoted as saying by AP.
“While the Brotherhood`s leaders and supporters are on the top of the security`s list of arrests, they are not at its end.”
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Trial of Egypt`s Beltagi, Hegazy Adjourned Until 5 October
Trial of Brotherhood leader El-Beltagi and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazi for assaulting a policeman postponed.
A Cairo court adjourned on Saturday the trial of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagi and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazi to 5 October.
The pair are currently being detained on charges of kidnapping and assaulting a policeman. Prosecution accused Beltagi and Hegazi of attempting to detain and assault a low-ranking officer, Mohamed Farouk, during a pro-Morsi march in July. They both face other charges of inciting violence during clashes between Morsi`s supporters, opponents and security forces.
Hegazy was arrested near the border with Libya on 21 August, while Beltagy was located in Giza and arrested by 29 August. Tens of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood are currently in detention facing an array of charges, primarily relating to `inciting violence`, following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July by the Egyptian military amidst mass nationwide protests.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]