[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Egypt and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Egypt Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week`s roundup to egypt@jadaliyya.com by Sunday night of every week.]
Political Rights
Journalists Syndicate launches campaign against journalists detention The campaign is dubbed "We will treat them, we will get them out. Journalism is not a crime," referring to the deteriorated health condition of a large number of detained journalists.
President Sisi’s popularity down 5%, pollers urge govt attention President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s popularity has dropped by five percent since June, when he celebrated one year in office, an opinion polls center has said.
Activist challenges journalist on disappearance victims` alleged links to IS A human rights activist who listed cases of citizen disappearances allegedly perpetrated by security authorities has challenged a prominent journalist and media host who said that the victims were most-often linked to the Islamic State.
Habbara handed down third capital punishment The Zagazig Criminal Court has handed down a death sentence to Adel Habbara for murdering a detective in Sharqiya.
Admin court rules in favor of right to strike The State Council’s Administrative Court issued a statement explaining a recent verdict on workers` rights Sunday, which is seen by advocates as a victory for the right to strike.
425 civilians prosecuted in military courts in November: lawyers` group Egypt’s military prosecuted 425 civilians in November, an independent group of lawyers said in a recent report, highlighting incidents which it deemed violations of human rights and press freedoms.
Egypt court orders corruption retrial for Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Nazif Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Wednesday annulled the conviction of Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Nazif on charges of corruption, ordering a retrial.
Egypt`s Sisi: Individual police violations should not take toll on relationship with public Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said during a seminar at a Cairo police academy on Thursday that individual violations by Egypt’s police should not take a toll on the rapport between the people and the security apparatus.
Party founder Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh claims driver was abducted, tortured Founder of the Islamist Strong Egypt Party and former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh demanded that authorities investigate the abduction and torture of his personal driver.
Badie, 37 others win appeal in `Rabea operations room` case Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie’s appeal against his death sentence in the “Rabea operations room” case was accepted by the Cairo Court of Cassation on Thursday, along with appeals for thirty seven other people convicted in the case, the Reuters-affiliated news site Aswat Masriya reported.
Family of Mohamed Mahmoud anniversary detainee awaits decision on Sunday The family of Ahmed Saeed, one of thirteen detainees arrested on the fourth anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud, is bracing itself for Saeed`s next hearing before the prosecution on 6 December.
Endowments ministry revokes licenses of non-governmental religious institutions The Endowments Ministry revoked all licenses given to religious institutes and cultural centers that are not administered by the ministry or Al-Azhar, a ministry statement said on Saturday.
Will new Interior Ministry committees tackle police violations? President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised the performance of the police during his visit to the Police Academy on Thursday, asserting that they play a major role in ensuring the stability of the country.
Ismail Alexandrani’s arrest
Egyptian journalist Alexandrani arrested, charged with ‘spreading false news’ The Egyptian journalist was visiting Egypt from Germany to see his sick mother when he was arrested at Hurghada Airport.
Update: Detained journalist Ismail Alexandrani`s interrogation postponed, lawyers denied access Detained journalist Ismail Alexandrani’s lawyers said they were denied entrance to the prosecution building where he was scheduled to be interrogated on Thursday, and filed a complaint of misconduct and mistreatment with the State Security Prosecution.
Washington Post criticizes recent arrest of journalists The article mentioned that Egyptian journalist, rights activist and researcher Ismail Iskandarani was arrested last week by Egyptian authorities and had been accused of joining the Muslim Brotherhood and circulating false news.
Human Rights Watch condemns `disturbing` arrest of Egyptian journalist Ismail Alexandrani The US-based rights group says Ismail Alexandrani`s detention is illegal.
Rights groups demand release of journalist Ismail Alexandrani Several international and local rights groups issued statements demanding the release of investigative journalist and sociopolitical researcher Ismail Alexandrani, detained for fifteen days pending investigation into charges of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group and disseminating false information.
Elections
Alliance loyal to Sisi dominates Egypt parliamentary election An electoral alliance loyal to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has dominated the parliamentary election, the election committee said on Friday, a vote critics said took place against a backdrop of widespread repression.
Polls in 2nd stage runoff close, paves way for Egypt`s 2015 Parliament Ahram Online reports.
Low turnout on last day of parliamentary elections, reports of violations Polling stations closed their doors on Wednesday, the last day in the last phase of Egypt’s 2015 parliamentary elections, which has witnessed an extremely low voter turnout rate, along with numerous reports of ballot-buying and a host of other electoral violations.
Early results show independents seize unprecedented power in new parliament As the second and final phase of the parliamentary elections comes to an end, early results show that independent candidates will hold a critical bloc — a marked shift from Egypt’s long-standing tradition of majority parties ruling the parliament.
Meet the next parliament’s most controversial MPs After elections for Egypt’s House of Representatives ended on Wednesday and days before the High Elections Commission announce the official results of the final round, four winners stand out as the most controversial.
With victory approaching, Tawfiq Okasha reveals parliament speaker bid Controversial TV host Tawfiq Okasha is eyeing the role of speaker of parliament as signs of his victory in the Talkha and Nabarouh constituency (Daqahlia) emerged following the end of runoffs in the final stage of elections on Wednesday.
Independence Current considers joining Al-Yazal Alliance Ahmed al-Fadaly, coordinator of the Independence Current, has announced that the parties of the current are considering joining the alliance that supports the government, which is headed by Sameh Seif al-Yazal.
The new parliament`s heavy legislative inheritance “Egypt`s new parliament could likely become its last authoritarian one. Its performance could rekindle hopes for reform or continue the current path of accelerated erosion of public confidence in politics and peaceful change,” writes Khaled Mansour.
Foreign Relations
US `concerned` over low turnout, low opposition participation in Egypt`s elections The US State Department has said although Egypt`s parliamentary elections were administered “in accordance with Egyptian laws” it is concerned about low turnout and limited opposition participation, according to a press statement released on Friday.
Egypt to appeal arbitration ruling to compensate Israel Electic Corp. Egypt will appeal a ruling by the Geneva-based International Chamber of Commerce to compensate Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) and Eastern Mediterranean Gas company (EMG) with 1.7 billion USD and 288 million USD, respectively, plus interest and legal expenses.
Economy
Official: Egypt will have 90 million residents by next week Ninety million people will be living in Egypt by 6 December, the head of Egypt’s state statistics agency announced.
Foreign reserves hold steady in November: CBE Foreign reserves inched up in November, closing the month at 16.423 billion USD compared to 16.415 billion USD at the end of October, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced Thursday.