Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Judiciary Court on September 10, 2011 against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the prime minister, minister of information and others for prohibiting licensing for new satellite channels.

Shaykh Hāfiz Salāmah, leader of the 1956 popular resistance in Suez, has said that all military facilities are property of the people, and anyone who sabotages these facilities should be regarded as a traitor to the nation.

Saturday (September 10) represented the biggest event since the departure of former Egyptian President Husnī Mubārak, causing the direct revival of the Emergency Law in Egypt, as well as embarrassment to the Egyptian regime, which has seen new problems over containing the fallout. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed desire to work with the government to return an ambassador to Cairo, shortly after securing the necessary security arrangements.

Mohammad Yassin, a leader of al-Jamā'ah al-Islāmīyāh, told al-Hayah that he has received news from the Iranian authorities of Mohammad Shawqy al-Islambuli’s imminent deportation to Egypt.

An anonymous Egyptian security source denied the existence of the Qa’idah network patrolling the Sinai, stressing that security forces are not monitoring any of the elements in the region.

 “Hell will break loose for the US if Omar Abdel Rahman is killed in prison,” said Safwat Abdel Ghany, member of Jama'a al-Islamiya's consultative council, in a press conference outside the US Embassy in Cairo on Wednesday.

Abdel Rahman, commonly known as the “Blind Sheikh,” is allegedly leader of Jama’a al-Islamiya, a militant Islamist organization in Egypt considered a terrorist group by the US. He is currently serving a life sentence in a US prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombings.

 AWR's Managing Director Hānī Labīb writes in al-Hayāh about the recent sectarian incidents having erupted in Egypt. He suggests several scenarios for Egypt's future.

In al-Hayāh, page 2, May 16, 2011, a score of Egyptians, mostly Copts, were injured in clashes that erupted between participants in a protest around the television building in Maspero area. Un-known people attacked the protest on May 14, 2011, where a number of cars and stores were set on fire. Additionally, Coptic Pope Shenouda III had called for an end to the protest and warned that rulers may run out of patience.

For the first time the Azhar's Grand Shaykh, Dr. Ahmad al-Tayīb, met with Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Murshid (Guide) Muhammad Badī' at the Azhar headquarters on May 3, 2011.

During the meeting, Tayīb said that the MB was never far from the Azhar and that there are common grounds between the two sides, that is the spreading of moderate Islam.

For his part, Badī' stressed the MB's support for the Azhar and that the group will work under the umbrella of the Azhar.

In response to Islamic groups’ recently expressed goal to establish an Islamic State, Coptic Pope Shenouda III publicly called for a civil state in Egypt.

(Reviewer's Note: News story was also covered in al-Hayāh, page 5, April 25, 2011)

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