[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 Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah's trial adjourned until November
The trial of prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah has been adjourned until 1 November after its first session was held on Monday, lawyer Khaled Ali wrote on his official Facebook page.
Military ruler annuls ruling against Mamdouh Hamza setting ‘historical precedent’
A six-month sentence issued in absentia against politically outspoken engineer Mamdouh Hamza in an emergency court trial has been walked back, in what Hamza’s lawyer, Khaled Ali, said on Sunday is a historically unprecedented move.
Egyptian military's high appeals court on Wednesday upheld life sentences for thirty-two people accused of plotting to kill President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and a former Saudi crown prince, their lawyer said.
Italian court stops trial against Egyptians over Regeni’s murder
The trial of four Egyptian security officers in Rome for the brutal killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni five years ago was thrown out by judges Thursday.
A new committee, which is to include four security officials and six officials from the justice system and will ultimately answer directly to the president, will be tasked with deciding whether or not state employees can be dismissed without disciplinary action.
Newly formed National Council for Human Rights to focus on remand detention, says member
After a four-year hiatus, twenty-seven members were appointed on Monday to the National Council for Human Rights, a government-appointed body tasked with reporting on and making recommendations for the human rights situation in Egypt.
Older staff excluded from compensation deal for 6,200 workers as state industrial giant winds down
By excluding workers who will soon reach retirement age, the Public Enterprise Ministry is saving some 350 million Egyptian pounds in compensation payouts as it lays off a workforce of around 6,200 in the process of liquidating one of its oldest subsidiaries, Egyptian Iron and Steel Company.
Egypt's Senate elects top posts for its 14 committees
The Senate – Egypt's upper consultative house – elected the heads, deputy heads and secretary-generals for each of its fourteen committees on Wednesday.
Egypt's parliament reconstitutes the National Council for Human Rights
The Egyptian Parliament’s General Committee approved on Monday the reconstitution of the country’s twenty-seven-member National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).
Egypt's Mostaqbal Watan party maintains majority for leading posts of parliament's 25 committees
Mostaqbal Watan is Egypt’s parliamentary majority party, controlling 316 seats (fifty-four percent) out of a total of 596.
Egypt's parliament opens its second legislative season amid strict anti-coronavirus measures
Following a two-month summer recess, Egypt's House of Representatives held a one-hour opening procedural sitting on Saturday amid strict anti-coronavirus measures.
EGYPT: International rights organizations call for the release of rights defender Mohamed El-Baqer
Human rights organizations organizations, condemn the prolonged arbitrary detention of lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer in connection with his human rights work, and we call for his immediate and unconditional release as well as the removal of his name from the “terrorist list.”
Two Years in Detention Without Trial: Human Rights Lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer
The two years of El-Baqer’s detention have been circuitous and emblematic of the way in which detainees’ detentions are repeatedly renewed in mounting cases, which allows for the effective circumvention of pretrial detention limits set forth in the law.
The Transformative Politics and Memory of the Maspero Massacre
The Maspero Massacre has left an indelible mark on Copts, shaping their activism and identity in significant ways, both in Egypt and abroad, over the past ten years. Despite the suppression of its memory by Church and state officials, the memory of the Massacre lives on through the people. The Martyrs of Maspero have come to symbolize the fight for citizenship, not only for Copts, but all Egyptians who suffer under successive Egyptian regimes.
Foreign Policy
Egypt’s new rights image met with skepticism in DC
More work must be done, Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, head of the International Dialogue Group, a group that lobbies for the release of political prisoners, tells Mada Masr after returning from Washington, DC, where he led a delegation that held meetings in the US capital about the human rights situation in Egypt last week.
International community needs to continue serious role in GERD issue, Sisi tells UK’s PM
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed on Thursday during a phone call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson the need for the international community to continue to play a serious role in resolving the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue.
Egypt says GERD negotiations with Ethiopia 'almost frozen'
Egypt said on Monday that the negotiations with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) are "almost frozen."
Al-Sisi affirms Egypt’s continued support to South Sudan
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir in Cairo on Sunday.
Shoukry affirms Egypt’s support for political roadmap in Libya
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met Tuesday with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow, where they discussed ways to advance bilateral cooperation, as well as international and regional issues of common concern.
Egypt, Russia FMs discuss ways to preserve unity in Libya, Syria
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met, on Monday, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow to discuss strengthening cooperation in several fields.
Egypt keen to achieve stability in Libya: FM Shoukry
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received, on Saturday, Abdullah Al-Lafi, Vice-President of the Libyan Presidential Council, and his accompanying delegation, in Cairo. Ambassador Ahmed Hafez, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Shoukry reiterated during the meeting Egypt’s full support for Libya as an independent and sovereign state over its entire national.
Al-Sisi urges necessity of holding Libyan elections by December, removing mercenaries
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received, on Wednesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in which the former stressed the importance that Egypt attaches to the success of the political track and the removal of foreign forces from Libya. Al-Sisi urged the necessity of holding general elections in Libya in December 2021 as previously scheduled.
Rafah crossing between Egypt, Gaza remains open for stranded passengers, humanitarian cases
Egyptian authorities on Tuesday continued operating Rafah border crossing on both sides acting upon the directives of the political leadership to facilitate the transit of stranded Palestinians and the entry of aid and construction materials to the Gaza Strip.
Sisi highlights Egypt’s role in regulating migration at Budapest conference
Egypt’s role in regulating migration, an issue currently high on the agenda of many of European Union member states, was the central thrust of speeches delivered by the Egyptian president and foreign minister during a well-publicized visit this week to Budapest for a summit between Egypt and the Visegrád Group, which includes Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.
Egypt is keen on coordinating the efforts between the countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to secure maritime navigation through the Bab al-Mandab strait, said Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli in an meeting with his Yemeni counterpart Maeen Abdulmalek in Cairo on Sunday.
Economy
Egypt allocates LE 1B to confront COVID-19 pandemic
Egypt’s Cabinet agreed, Sunday to allocate one billion Egyptian pounds to confront covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Orascom Inks Deal to Build 500 MW Wind Farm in Egypt
Egypt’s Orascom Construction announced on Thursday, 14 October that its consortium with Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Japan) and ENGIE (France) has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to develop, construct, and operate a 500 megawatt wind farm in Ras Ghareb, Egypt for twenty years.
Egypt Announces the Third Fuel Price Increase of 2021
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Friday 8 October 2021 an increase in the price of fuel by twenty-five piasters.
EGP 800 mln disbursed in third phase of immediate cash initiative: Egypt's finance minister
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Friday that the government of Egypt paid out 800 million Egyptian pounds to 302 companies under the third stage of immediate cash initiative.
Egypt’s health sector allocations increase to EGP 275.6 bln in FY2021/22: Finance minister
Egypt’s health sector allocations have increased by 17.1 billion Egyptian pounds in the current FY2021/22 to reach 275.6 billion Egyptian pounds, said Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, who revealed the eighth edition of the citizen’s budget report on Wednesday.
Egyptian MPs to draft amendment postponing Capital Gains Tax Law to 2023
More than twenty Egyptian MPs announced on Tuesday that they would draft a legislative amendment to postpone the implementation of the Capital Gains Tax Law (no.199/2020) to 2023, instead of January 2022.
On August 31, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights published a new periodic report titled “COVID-19 and external debt in 2020: Pandemic-induced borrowing.” The most recent issue of the series on foreign debt, which EIPR has published since 2017, shows that Egypt’s external debts jumped in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Domestic Security
Egypt’s government says no shortage in COVID-19 treatment protocols, oxygen
Egypt’s government denied, Monday the rumors that there was a shortage of drugs in the treatment protocols for the Coronavirus and oxygen stocks in the isolation hospitals, coinciding with the fourth wave of the virus.
Egyptian Public Prosecution ordered the detention of 3 people accused of negligence in an incident that went viral on social media about finding dumped a large number of doses of Coronavirus vaccine Sinopharm in Bani Mazar city of Minya, Upper Egypt.
Sisi directs gov't to remove building violations on irrigation facilities within 6 months
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Monday that the government — and the army if necessary — will intervene to remove building violations on irrigation facilities in the vicinity of Nile canals nationwide within the coming six months.
From Jadaliyya
“The book provides an analytical comprehensive overview of modern Egypt’s politics, society, and economy. It primarily focuses on post-independence years. However, it does not shy away from going back to earlier modern times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.”
An Archive of Forgetting: Egypt, 2011-2021
“Activists archived the uprising as it took place through photographs, video footage, and recordings of songs and slogans to say that this is how it is, this is what we are doing, see what they are doing to us” Pascale Ghazaleh writes.
Arabic
Lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and activists Alaa Abd El Fattah and Mohamed "Oxygen" Ibrahim were referred to trial at a State Security Emergency Court on charges of “publishing false news”, according to lawyer Khaled Ali.
«المصري اليوم».. جريدة أرادت رسم خط الأفق
The article examines the journey of ups and downs of Al-Masry Al-Youm, amid an increasingly dire situation for news outlets in Egypt.
Daarb reports on the trial of human rights lawyer Zyad el-Elaimy, and journalists Hisham Fouad and Hossam Moenes which was postponed to October 20.
The wife of journalist Ahmad Sebei called on the head of journalists’ syndicate to allow her to visit her husband who was denied visits since last February.
بعد ما يقرب من أربع سنوات من الحبس الاحتياطي، حياة المحامي إبراهيم متولى فى خطر!
Lawyer Ibrahim Metwaly continues to face dehumanizing conditions in prison where his health is deteriorating, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights discusses the drawbacks of the Church Construction Law, five years after its enactment.