s new cabinet confirms that the country is falling apart under a corrupt and authoritarian police state. The world must help us Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, has emphasised in her frequent statements on Egypt the importance of maintaining stability and of following a democratic path. But in the past three years Egypt has seen six cabinet reshuffles, the most recent sparked by last...
‘Everybody from the White House down has given their support to us – we haven’t heard from the prime minister,’ says reporter Paul Farrell ...
hotel rooms is presented as evidence by prosecution The second day of the trial of three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt descended into farce on Wednesday when prosecutors presented the entire contents of their raided hotel rooms as evidence, and another co-defendant said he did not understand what the trial was about. Australian ex-BBC correspondent Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian ex-CNN journalist...
Second day of trial gets under way as a senior Egyptian minister admits that jailing the group of reporters was a mistake Patrick Kingsley ...
s a practice that goes back millennia, but scrawling your name on an ancient monument is now widely condemned – everywhere except in China, that is Our urge to scrawl on a wall has been around for pretty much as long as there have been walls around for us to scrawl on. The workmen who built the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza left behind scribbles that may explain how they did it. An ancient Roman scratched...
s removal A court in Cairo has banned the hardline Palestinian Islamist group Hamas – a movement closely bound to the Muslim Brotherhood – from working within Egyptian borders. The judicial order came on Tuesday, formalising the rift between the Egyptian government and the militant group that governs the neighbouring Gaza Strip. Sami Abu Zuhri, from Hamas, accused the Egyptian leadership of acting...
s candidacy seen as forgone conclusion as statements and leaks suggest he wants to succeed Mohamed Morsi The head of the Egyptian army has given his clearest sign yet that he will run for Egypt's presidency, a race he is widely expected to win. Field Marshal Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's candidacy has long been seen as a forgone conclusion, following a series of statements and leaks by officials that strongly...
jail for killing a blogger whose death rallied protesters in the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The pair were sentenced after a retrial for the manslaughter and torture of Khaled Said in June 2010 during his unlawful arrest at an internet cafe in Alexandria. Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Ismail Suleiman were initially sentenced in October 2011 to seven years for excessive brutality . Said's...
Two bombs explode outside university wounding five guards as security forces fear more attacks in runup to May elections An Egyptian police brigadier-general has been killed in a bombing outside Cairo University, the Egyptian interior ministry has said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Islamist militants have carried out similar operations in a fast-growing insurgency...
If the investigation leads to a ban it may appease the Saudis, but it would also alienate the millions who never espoused violence David Cameron will come to regret his call for an investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood . The move is opportunistic and set to backfire on him. The impetus reportedly came from British intelligence, not from the Foreign Office, where there is greater awareness of the...
s Dostour party last week , since when journalists have barely stopped bothering her. Her party's reputation has something to do with it: Dostour ("Constitution") was founded by Mohamed ElBaradei, the exiled Nobel laureate many hoped would lead post-revolutionary Egypt. But there is another cause of the excitement. Shukrallah is the first woman – and first Christian – to lead a major Egyptian party....
US and Saudi Arabia were never comfortable with Brotherhood's rise to power in Egypt but UK would be wise to avoid witch-hunt David Cameron's decision to order an investigation into the "philosophy and activities" of the Muslim Brotherhood , particularly as they relate to Britain, stems from a broader nervousness in western European capitals about a wave of Islamist extremism and jihadism...
The British establishment reportedly fears that the Islamist group is planning extremist activities from an HQ in north-west London For a supposed UK base of the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world's most powerful political organisations, two floors of offices above a disused kebab shop on Cricklewood Broadway seem an unlikely choice. ...
An Egyptian journalist, Mayada Ashraf, was shot dead on Friday (28 March) while covering clashes in Cairo. It is unknown who was responsible for her death. Ashraf was a reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Dustour, which is known for its criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood. Her most recent report included a description of the Brotherhood as a terrorist group. ...
s no reason for ladies not to go places In 2007, I spent 10 days in Egypt with a male friend who was living and studying there. While he was in class, I explored Cairo alone. At the Muhammad Ali mosque, a group of schoolchildren started following me – cute little kids, maybe third graders, fascinated by my digital camera and apparently having recently learned to ask, "Hello, what's your name?" in English....
...
s bus system this week, after strikes stopped services in most of the capital's 28 municipal garages amid ongoing industrial action in which a reported 100,000 workers have downed tools this year. The surge in worker activism was one of the main reasons for the mass resignation of Egypt's interim cabinet on Monday . Strikers' demands differ from sector to sector, but the most common is a plea for the...
Media workers take part in demonstrations and speak out online, including a ‘thunderclap’ on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. By Dugald Baird Dugald Baird ...
shocking to scientists' Egypt's military leaders have come under ridicule after the chief army engineer unveiled what he described as a "miraculous" set of devices that detect and cure Aids, hepatitis and other viruses. The claim, dismissed by experts and called "shocking to scientists" by the president's science adviser, strikes a blow to the army's carefully managed image as the saviour of the nation....
Widespread calls for prime minister to ask Egypt’s military leader to free the Australian journalist and colleagues Paul Farrell ...