[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
Detained researcher’s lawyers say he was beaten, his arrest report falsified
Rights researcher and graduate student Patrick George Zaki was arrested from the Cairo airport on Friday. He was held incommunicado for twenty-four hours, during which he was beaten and electrocuted before appearing at the public prosecutor’s office, and faces charges that include spreading false news.
Lawyers say that a full nine years after the 2011 revolution, authorities still treat the activists who were involved in it as a potential threat.
Two weeks before jailed former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh reached the two-year legal limit for remand detention, prosecutors charged him in a new case, effectively resetting the detention clock and allowing authorities to keep him locked up without trial for an additional twenty-four months.
An administrative court said police officials acted “unilaterally and without justification” in ordering activist Mohamed Adel to spend twelve hours every night—from 6 pm to 6 am—inside a police station as part of his probation, according to the judicial reasoning for a December ruling by an administrative court.
4 years after Giulio Regeni killing, Egypt and Italy grow ties in spite of unresolved case
Events marking the anniversary of the brutal killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni four years ago in Egypt have been held in Italy over the past two weeks.
Egypt court orders release of Egyptian satirist Shady Abu Zeid after nearly two-year detention
A Cairo criminal court has ordered the release of satirist and video blogger Shady Abu Zeid after he spent nearly two years in pre-trial detention.
Egypt's interior ministry releases 498 prisoners upon presidential pardon, conditional releases
Egypt's interior ministry released on Saturday 498 prisoners upon a presidential pardon and conditional releases. A list of those released was not immediately available.
Egyptian court sentences terrorist leader Ashmawy, 36 others to death over 54 assassinations
A Cairo criminal court handed preliminary death sentences to leading terrorist Hisham Ashmawy and thirty-six others in the case known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, convicting them of executing over fifty assassination attacks on policemen.
Egypt's PM outlines role of information minister, goals of state media policy
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has issued a decision defining the role of the newly appointed minister of state for information, and the country's state media policy.
Egypt govt has legalised 1,500 unlicensed churches since 2017: Cabinet
A cabinet committee tasked with legalizing the status of unlicensed Christian places of worship on Tuesday approved the legalization of eighty-two churches and service buildings that had been operating without a permit, the cabinet said in a statement.
“And give good tidings to the strangers”
The very act of remembering is an act of defiance against a system, as well as systems that have been put into place to deny that #Jan25 ever existed.
Foreign Policy
Sisi says no alternative for direct talks between Israel, Palestine amid US MidEast plan controversy
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there is no alternative for direct talks between Israel and Palestine, stressing Egypt's steadfast position towards resolving the Palestinian crisis through the establishment of an independent state amid controversy over the recently announced US Middle East plan.
The statement differed in some of its wording from an earlier draft prepared by the Foreign Ministry that was sent to the president’s office for approval, according to a government official who saw the original draft and compared it to the final statement. According to the source, the original draft text mentioned the establishment of a “Palestinian state on territories occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital”—a phrase that was omitted in the final version.
Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan to sign final agreement on GERD by end of February
Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan are set to sign a final agreement by the end of February on Addis Ababa's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a joint statement by the three countries, the United States and the World Bank read late Friday, hoping to secure an agreement which has stirred months of conflict and a deadlock in talks.
Egypt calls on 'both parties' to consider Trump’s Middle East peace plan
Egypt has called on both parties involved in the peace process in the Middle East to “carefully consider” a new US peace plan unveiled by President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
Egypt's FM chairs 36th session of AU’s Executive Council in Ethiopia
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Thursday chaired the thirty-sixth session of the Executive Council of the African Union in Addis Ababa, and reviewed the achievements made in Africa during Egypt’s presidency of the AU, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Economy
Egypt's net foreign reserves rise to $45.457 bln in January: Central Bank
Egypt’s net foreign reserves rose to 45.457 billion US dollars in January from 45.42 billion US dollars in December, the central bank said on Thursday.
Egypt planted 3.18 mln acres of wheat in 2019/2020
Egypt has planted 3.18 million feddans (1.34 million hectares) of wheat in the 2019-2020 season, just over the amount planted the previous year, an agriculture ministry official said on Wednesday.
Domestic Security
Seventeen militants killed in shootout in North Sinai: Ministry
Egyptian security forces killed seventeen militants during a raid on their hideout in the North Sinai capital of Arish, the interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
By last December, the lines had become noticeably longer and more chaotic. Scuffles occasionally break out between people as they wait, and security personnel stationed in front of banks often have to intervene to organize the lines.
Security agencies also raised the state of emergency in North Sinai in anticipation of escalation in the Gaza Strip and the possibility that Palestinians will storm the border, following the announcement of the United States-sponsored “deal of the century.”
Egypt's population to hit 100 million at home next week: CAPMAS
Since 2017, Egyptian officials have described the country's rapid population growth as an "actual catastrophe" that threatens national development plans and demands immediate attention, just like the country's war against terrorism.
Arabic
الهجوم على كمائن «زلزال».. محاولة جديدة من «ولاية سيناء» لفك الحصار
The article reports on the Islamist insurgency in North Sinai.
«المصرية للملاحة» تصل إلى التصفية.. «خطة مرسومة من نهاية التسعينات»
Due to the Egyptian Navigation losses, the company faces liquidation.
أسرة باتريك تطالب بإطلاق سراحه وإسقاط الاتهامات ضده: "لم يُمثّل أي خطر على أحد"
Egyptian activist and researcher Patrick George Zaky's family demanded Egyptian authorities to immediately release their son, who was arrested upon his arrival at Cairo airport over "spreading false news" charges.
بعد إصابته بارتشاح في القلب: عائلة زياد العليمي تتهم السلطات برفض إطلاعهم على حالته الصحية
The family of Human rights lawyer and former parliamentarian Ziad el-Elaimy accused the Egyptian authorities of the serious deterioration of the health of their son who is in pretrial detention over the case known as “hope case."