[This is a collection of news updates on Egypt compiled from multiple sources by the editors.]
At Least Eight Killed in Sinai strike
Eight people were killed and fifteen injured in Sinai Wednesday in an Apache helicopter attack targeting “an extremist stronghold,” Al-Ahram reported, although initial reports by state TV suggested that fifteen people were killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, a military source told state-run Al-Ahram newspaper that a security operation is underway in two villages south of Sheikh Zuwayed where several stores of arms were destroyed.
The source said airstrikes continue “killing and injuring over twenty people,” and arresting several others.
Official figures are yet to be released following the security operation, Al-Ahram said.
Attacks targeting police stations, military checkpoints and other government establishments have intensified in Sinai, particularly following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on 3 July.
However, many in Sinai attribute the increasing militancy in the peninsula to its economic and political marginalization, which has persisted for decades.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr Banned with Three Other Channels
A Cairo court orders Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, Ahrar 25, Al-Quds and Al-Yarmouk channels all be taken off air.
A Cairo court ordered on Tuesday Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr be taken off air. The administrative court ruling also banned Al-Yarmouk, Al-Quds and Ahrar 25, regarded as channels linked to Islamists, off the Egyptian airwaves.
Al-Jazeera Egyptian channel has come under fire as local media and authorities accused it of bias against the popularly-backed overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails. Egyptian officials even said the station posed a threat to national security.
The three other channels were also blamed for one-sided reporting in favor of the Brotherhood and its supporters.
Some analysts, however, do not find any value in the ban. "I do not understand the rationale behind such court orders. They are impossible to implement," Khaled Dawoud, a leading member of the liberal Dostour Party told Ahram Online. "If they ban a channel, other channels will come up and find a country to broadcast from."
Dawoud said he had reservations on the coverage of some of these channels for being "platforms" for the Muslim Brotherhood, yet counseled "we should get accustomed to the broadcasting of views we do not sympathize with and stop blaming the media, as we live in an age of diversity."
Egypt's government had already ordered a ban on the broadcaster's Egyptian channel last week on allegations it lacked legal permits. The channel, now broadcast from Qatar, later challenged the authorities, publishing an alleged operation license by the Egyptian government.
The Doha-based network said in a statement on Sunday it was concerned over alleged harassment of the channel by the Egyptian authorities, citing "the series of detentions" of its staff and seizure of its equipment.
Police have detained a correspondent for Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel, Abdullah El-Shami, since 14 August, and a cameraman for its Egyptian affiliate, Mohamed Badr, for over a month. Three foreign reporters for the Qatari-owned channel were also deported on Sunday after being caught covering political events without the required permits.
The ban comes a day after an Egyptian court ordered the permanent closure of the fiercely anti-liberal Al-Hafez channel.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online]
Egypt's Constitution Committee is Balanced: April 6
Co-founder of April 6 youth movement Ahmed Maher says group will work to ensure that new constitution enshrines principles of Egyptian revolution.
The fifty-member committee appointed by the presidency to amend Egypt's constitution last week is largely balanced, according to April 6 youth movement co-founder Ahmed Maher.
In comments reported by Al-Ahram's Arabic news website, Maher expressed satisfaction with the number of youth representatives on the committee, but emphasized that the most import thing is the "final product."
April 6 will "deal objectively" with the committee, Maher said, and the objectives and principles of the revolution will be paramount to this process.
"If the draft is in accordance with the values of freedom, democracy, separation of powers, human dignity, social justice, transparency, accountability and equality among citizens, the movement will be satisfied,” Maher said. “However, if the new constitution is in conflict with these values, we will object to it like we did the constitution of 2012," he added.
Maher said April 6 will send the committee a list of proposed amendments, as they did with the 2012 constitution-drafting committee.
The fifty-member committee has been criticized by some for not proportionally representing various political shades in Egyptian society especially Islamists. The presidency named only two Islamists to amend the charter: one belonging to the hardline Salafist Nour Party, the other a former Muslim Brotherhood leader, who is now harshly critical of the group he left last year.
April 6 has come under attack in Egyptian media in recent weeks for alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement is seen by some media representatives as members of the Muslim Brotherhood's "fifth column", despite its active participation in protests against disposed former president Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt's Attorney General instructed supreme state security prosecution to investigate charges against Ahmed Maher, on Wednesday. The accusations include conspiring against his homeland and acquiring illegal financial support from abroad.
While members of the Rebel campaign, which organized for the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, have been chosen to represent Egyptian youth in the constitution-drafting committee, April 6, a group which spear-headed the 25 January revolution against Mubarak, was not asked to participate in the process.
The composition of the fifty-member committee was announced on Sunday by the presidency. It will amend controversial articles in the temporarily suspended 2012 constitution as part of a road map declared by the interim-government on 3 July, when Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was deposed following mass protests.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Egyptian Security on Alert Ahead of Planned Islamist Rallies
Military vehicles are deployed near Tahrir Square and Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque as Islamists plan to take to the streets on Tuesday.
Egyptian police and army deployed their forces on Tuesday around roads in the vicinity of Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque as Islamists plan to hold nationwide rallies commemorating the second month anniversary 3 July ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.
According to state-owned news agency MENA, four military vehicles were deployed on Al-Tayaran Street, which leads to the Rabaa Mosque, and barbed wire barricades stand by for possible road closures. Al-Nasr Street heading towards the Autostrade Road remains open to vehicles.
Rabaa Al-Adawiya was home to the larger of the two protest camps which supporters of the deposed president held for six weeks before it was dispersed by security forces on 14 August, along with its smaller sister camp in Giza’s Al-Nahda Square, leaving at least 600 people killed, according to Ministry of Health figures.
Military forces also blocked the entrance to Tahrir Square from Qasr Al-Nile Bridge. A number of military vehicles were also deployed before the Egyptian Museum, on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, as well as in Bab Al-Louq and Talaat Harb squares.
The National Alliance for the Support of Legitimacy did not specify a location for the rallies, planned under the banner "the coup is terrorism", but said protests would seep to all squares across the country. A press conference exposing what the alliance calls "crimes of the coup" is also expected to take place.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]