Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The Giza Emergency Supreme State Security Court resumes on Sunday (February 5) hearing witnesses in the Imbābah sectarian incidents in which 48 persons are facing charges of illegal assembly, premeditated murder, attempted murder, sparking and inciting sectarian fitnah and setting fire to the Virgin Mary Church with malice aforethought.

The court is to hear the testimony of Major General Hamdī Badīn, Commander of the Military Police, Colonel Mājid ‘Abd al-Ghaffār, the chief of the military investigations corps, ‘Abīr Fakhrī, the woman who caused the strife, two eyewitnesses and five witnesses for the defense.

The Imbābah clashes, which erupted on May 7-8, 2011, had started upon words that Fakhrī, a Christian woman said to be married to a Muslim man, was purportedly detained inside a church in the impoverished district. [Du’ā’ Majdī, al-Jumhūrīyah, Feb. 4, p. 16] Read text in Arabic 

Meanwhile, the Maspero Youth Union said on Friday (February 3) said one of its members lost his right eye during clashes between demonstrators and security forces outside the interior ministry building.

“Butrus Yūsuf ‘Abd al-Masīh, a 31-year-old air condition technician for a private-sector company has totally lost his right eye after he received a shotgun pellet in it,” Mīnā Thābit, a member of the MYU executive office, said. [Author Not Mentioned, Akhbār al-Yawm, Feb. 4, p. 6] Read text in Arabic