https://www.scmp.com/rss/267344/feed Mohammed Mursi is a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood and former president of Egypt, assuming office on 30 June 2012. He was unseated in a military coup on 3 July 2013 by the Egyptian defence minister Abdul Fatah Khalil Al-Sisi following widespread democracy protests across the country and calls for his resignation by leading opposition party members. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Egypt is gearing up this month for a presidential election certain to win incumbent Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi a third term in office, despite rising public discontent as the country faces its worst ever economic crisis. From Sunday through Tuesday, Egyptians aged 18 and above will be able to cast their ballots for one of four candidates – former army chief Sisi, in power since he deposed elected Islamist president Mohammed Mursi in 2013, and three other relative unknowns. Preparations for elections... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3244343/egypt-presidential-election-no-surprises-store-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-eyes-3rd-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3244343/egypt-presidential-election-no-surprises-store-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-eyes-3rd-term?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Dec 2023 05:29:18 +0000 Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi announced Monday his candidacy for a third term in office, ahead of December elections he is widely expected to win. “As I have responded to the people’s call before, I heed the call now and announce my intention to run and complete the dream in a new presidential term,” Sisi, 68, told a cheering crowd in Egypt’s new capital – the crowning jewel of a megaproject in the desert east of Cairo. State-aligned television showed thousands of people celebrating... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3236567/no-one-better-egyptians-rally-cairo-support-third-term-president-al-sisi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3236567/no-one-better-egyptians-rally-cairo-support-third-term-president-al-sisi?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Oct 2023 19:15:20 +0000 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met on Sunday in Qatar for the first time, a picture from Turkey’s presidency showed. Erdogan and Sisi have been sparring since the military’s 2013 ousting in Cairo of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, personally backed by Erdogan. A Turkish official confirmed to Agence France-Presse the handshake in Doha during the opening ceremony for the Fifa World Cup. Turkey has moved to warm ties with some regional... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3200334/sparring-presidents-erdogan-and-el-sisi-shake-hands-they-meet-qatar-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3200334/sparring-presidents-erdogan-and-el-sisi-shake-hands-they-meet-qatar-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Nov 2022 18:50:40 +0000 Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood who championed the 2011 Arab spring uprisings and unsettled rulers in Egypt and the Gulf with his Islamist preaching, died on Monday. He was 96. Born in Egypt, Qaradawi spent much of his life in Qatar, where he became one of the most recognisable and influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world thanks to regular appearances on Qatar’s Al Jazeera network. Broadcast into millions of homes, his sermons fuelled tensions... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3193882/sheikh-qaradawi-islamist-champion-arab-revolts-dies-96?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3193882/sheikh-qaradawi-islamist-champion-arab-revolts-dies-96?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:30:16 +0000 An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced to death 10 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group found guilty of violence against security officers in 2015, a judicial source said. The case will now be referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s top theological authority – a formality in death penalty cases – before the court meets on June 19 to confirm the sentences. Of the 10 men, nine were in custody while one was sentenced in absentia, the source said. They were accused of multiple incidents of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3165344/egypt-sentences-10-muslim-brotherhood-members-death-over-2015?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3165344/egypt-sentences-10-muslim-brotherhood-members-death-over-2015?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jan 2022 16:32:05 +0000 Egypt’s prosecution ordered the release of Egyptian-Palestinian activist Ramy Shaath on Monday after almost two and a half years in detention, a judiciary source told Agence France-Presse. The source said that Shaath, the son of veteran Palestinian politician Nabil Shaath, “has been released by the prosecution”. There were no further details. His wife, French national Celine Lebrun, told Agence France-Presse: “I heard about the decision but according to what I know he is not yet out.” She added... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3162014/jailed-egyptian-palestinian-freed-after-more-two-years-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3162014/jailed-egyptian-palestinian-freed-after-more-two-years-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jan 2022 22:49:21 +0000 Egyptian authorities on Saturday freed an Al-Jazeera journalist after more than four years in detention, his family lawyer said. Mahmoud Hussein walked free from a police station on Saturday afternoon, a few days after a court ordered his conditional release pending investigations into charges of publishing false information and belonging to a banned group, lawyer Gamal Eid said. “Today, we are pleased he is finally reunited with his family, after being robbed four years from his life and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3120869/egypt-releases-al-jazeera-journalist-mahmoud-hussein-who-was?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3120869/egypt-releases-al-jazeera-journalist-mahmoud-hussein-who-was?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Feb 2021 19:14:04 +0000 A prominent investigative media outlet in Egypt said security forces detained its editor-in-chief Sunday, the latest arrest amid a wider crackdown on dissent and the media. Mada Masr, one of a shrinking number of independent news websites in Egypt, said Lina Attalah was arrested outside Cairo’s Tora prison complex. The outlet said she was conducting an interview with Laila Soueif, the mother of jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah. Attalah’s lawyer, Hassan el-Azhari, told The Associated Press his... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3084801/prominent-egyptian-investigative-media-outlet-says-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3084801/prominent-egyptian-investigative-media-outlet-says-top?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 May 2020 22:13:45 +0000 Egypt on Tuesday said it would investigate the death in custody of a US citizen who had gone on a hunger strike as part of a six-year battle against what he insisted was wrongful imprisonment. Mustafa Kassem, 54, an Egyptian-born auto parts dealer from Long Island, New York, died late on Monday of heart failure after a hunger strike he began last year, his lawyers said. He had been in Cairo in August 2013 when he was rounded up by police amid a deadly crackdown on an Islamist sit-in in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3046099/egypt-probes-death-jailed-us-citizen-washington-slams?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3046099/egypt-probes-death-jailed-us-citizen-washington-slams?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:31:23 +0000 Mohammed Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, collapsed in court and died Monday while facing trial, prompting supporters and human rights activists and to demand an impartial probe into his death. The United Nations has also called for an “independent” investigation. Egyptian state TV said his death was due to a cardiac arrest. He was buried early Tuesday in Cairo’s western district of Nasr City. Mursi, 67, had been imprisoned since 2013, when his elected government was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3014936/egypts-ousted-president-mohammed-mursi-67-dies-court-during?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3014936/egypts-ousted-president-mohammed-mursi-67-dies-court-during?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2019 19:35:02 +0000 An Egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday on charges of killing police officers, part of a sustained crackdown by authorities on Islamists. The men were convicted of playing a role in the killings of 16 policemen in the town of Kardasa in August, 2013 during the upheaval that followed the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi. Thirty-four were sentenced in absentia. Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1699738/egypt-court-sentences-183-muslim-brotherhood-supporters-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1699738/egypt-court-sentences-183-muslim-brotherhood-supporters-death?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Feb 2015 13:10:18 +0000 Egypt's government has denied it fabricated key documents linked to the trial of Mohammed Mursi, the country's ousted president, after a set of unverified leaked recordings seemed to show that senior Egyptian military officials colluded with the country's police chief and top state prosecutor to ensure his trial did not collapse. Mursi was seized by army officers in July last year and taken to await prosecution at a naval base, an illegal process his lawyers argue invalidated any subsequent... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1657003/muslim-brotherhood-faked-tapes-mursi-arrest-collusion-prosecutor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1657003/muslim-brotherhood-faked-tapes-mursi-arrest-collusion-prosecutor?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Dec 2014 22:14:32 +0000 An Egyptian criminal court has convicted the youngest son of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi on charges of drug possession and consumption, jailing him and a friend for a year. Abdullah Mursi, 20, was not in court when Judge Abdel-Rahman Ayad issued the verdict. He had been on bail since his arrest in March. Mursi and his friend were arrested after police suspected they were smoking hashish on the side of a road on the east edge of Cairo. He denied the charges. His family has... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1545761/mohammed-mursis-son-jailed-year-egypt-drug-possession?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1545761/mohammed-mursis-son-jailed-year-egypt-drug-possession?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:59:54 +0000 An Egyptian court that sentenced to death 37 Islamists and handed life terms to 492 others has defended its verdict, saying the men were "demons" who followed Jewish scripture. The court in the central city of Minya triggered international outrage this year for sentencing to death hundreds of alleged supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi in two separate mass trials which lasted only minutes. In one trial in March, 529 were sentenced to death for killing a police officer. But the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1523917/condemned-islamists-are-demons-egyptian-court-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1523917/condemned-islamists-are-demons-egyptian-court-says?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:35:31 +0000 Egypt's former army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed leader Mohammed Mursi was "finished" in Egypt and that it would not return if he was elected. Following the Sisi-led army ouster of Mursi in July, the Brotherhood has been banned, its leaders arrested and more than 1,400 people, mostly Islamist backers of Mursi, killed in clashes. "I did not finish it. You Egyptians finished it," Sisi said on Monday in his first... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1506023/muslim-brotherhood-finished-egypt-says-presidential-candidate-el-sisi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1506023/muslim-brotherhood-finished-egypt-says-presidential-candidate-el-sisi?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 May 2014 13:11:26 +0000 The Qatar-based satellite network Al-Jazeera served Egypt with a US$150 million compensation claim for what it said was damage to its media business inflicted by Cairo's military-backed rulers, a step likely to worsen Qatari-Egyptian relations. In a move aimed at drawing attention to what Al-Jazeera calls Egypt's unacceptable treatment of it and its journalists, a lawyer acting for the pan-Arab channel said on Monday he had handed a legal document detailing the claim to a representative of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1500170/al-jazeera-demands-us150m-egypt-damages-journalist-abuse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1500170/al-jazeera-demands-us150m-egypt-damages-journalist-abuse?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Apr 2014 13:43:53 +0000 Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for a big turnout in a presidential election he is expected to win easily, countering a call for a boycott by allies of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Mursi. Sisi (pictured), who deposed Mursi after mass protests against his rule last July, faces only one competitor in the May 26 to 27 election, leftist Hamdeen Sabahi. He came third in the 2012 election won by Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi on Sunday called on Egyptians to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1499397/egyptian-election-front-runner-abdel-fattah-al-sisi-calls-big-turnout?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1499397/egyptian-election-front-runner-abdel-fattah-al-sisi-calls-big-turnout?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2014 13:53:25 +0000 An Egyptian court has handed down a death sentence on the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month. A death penalty for Mohammed Badie, the Brotherhood's general guide, will infuriate members of the Brotherhood which has been the target of raids, arrests and bans since President Mohammed Mursi was deposed by the military in July. Watch: Egypt court sentences 683... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1498973/egypt-verdict-expected-700-including-leader-muslim-brotherhood?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1498973/egypt-verdict-expected-700-including-leader-muslim-brotherhood?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2014 03:45:30 +0000 An Egyptian judge will issue a verdict on April 28 in a new mass trial of 683 suspected Islamist supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Mursi for murder and attempted murder after a single session boycotted by defence lawyers. Judge Said Youssef, who sentenced more than 520 defendants to death on Monday, went ahead yesterday, hearing witnesses in the case despite the lawyers' absence. Defence lawyers had boycotted the session - attended by 60 defendants - after complaining of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1457299/verdict-expected-april-28-second-mass-egyptian-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1457299/verdict-expected-april-28-second-mass-egyptian-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:15:30 +0000 A court in Egypt has sentenced to death 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed party of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi - after convicting them of charges including murdering a policeman and attacking police. Turmoil in Egypt has grown increasingly violent since the army overthrew Mursi - Egypt's first freely elected president - after protests last July. Most defendants in the mass trial were dealt with in absentia, while more than 150 stood in court in unprecedentedly... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1456199/egypt-sentences-death-529-members-muslim-brotherhood?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1456199/egypt-sentences-death-529-members-muslim-brotherhood?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Mar 2014 08:22:37 +0000 The judge in one of the largest trials of supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohammed Mursi has declared he will issue verdicts for the more than 500 defendants after only two sessions, say lawyers who claim the move violated the norms of a fair trial. The 545 defendants face charges relating to violence following the August dispersal by security forces of two pro-Mursi protests in Cairo, in which hundreds were killed. In an apparent backlash, police stations, churches and government... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1455652/egypt-judge-angers-lawyers-during-trial-pro-mursi-protesters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1455652/egypt-judge-angers-lawyers-during-trial-pro-mursi-protesters?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Mar 2014 20:45:30 +0000 Egypt’s government resigned on Monday, paving the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic US ally gripped by political strife. After the July overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and subsequent crackdown on Islamists and liberals with hundreds killed and thousands jailed, critics say Cairo’s military-backed authorities are turning the clock back to the era of autocrat Hosni Mubarak era, when the political elite... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1434370/egypt-government-resigns-paving-way-sisi-seek-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1434370/egypt-government-resigns-paving-way-sisi-seek-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Feb 2014 14:30:30 +0000 Egypt's toppled President Mohammed Mursi stood alone in a soundproof glass-encased metal cage at the start of a new trial yesterday wearing a white prison uniform, pacing and shouting angrily at the judge in apparent disbelief: "Who are you? Tell me!" Mursi is on trial with 129 others, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, and militants from the Palestinian Hamas group and Lebanon's Hezbollah, on charges related to prison breaks at the height of the 18-day 2011 uprising against his predecessor... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1416204/mohammed-mursi-turns-judge-start-his-new-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1416204/mohammed-mursi-turns-judge-start-his-new-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:19:22 +0000 Egypt's interim leader said a presidential election could be held before a parliamentary vote. Adly Mansour's comments raise the possibility that the country's military-backed government is preparing to deviate from the transitional plan it unveiled after ousting former president Mohammed Mursi in July. It also comes amid a widening crackdown on Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, which was declared a "terrorist organisation" by the government last week. As the crackdown intensified, Egyptian... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1393273/egypts-interim-leader-adly-mansour-hints-president-could-be-elected-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1393273/egypts-interim-leader-adly-mansour-hints-president-could-be-elected-first?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Dec 2013 14:00:00 +0000 Egyptian prosecutors yesterday referred ousted president Mohammed Mursi to a third trial, on charges of organising prison breaks during the 2011 uprising, spreading chaos in the country and abducting policemen in collaboration with foreign militants. The new charges against Mursi and 129 others widen the legal crackdown on the ousted Islamist president and his group, the Muslim Brotherhood, levelling sweeping accusations, most of which carry the death penalty. Egypt's new, military-backed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1387964/egyptian-prosecutors-lay-fresh-charges-against-mohammed-mursi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1387964/egyptian-prosecutors-lay-fresh-charges-against-mohammed-mursi?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Dec 2013 21:49:26 +0000 Egypt's public prosecutor ordered the former president, Mohammed Mursi, and 35 Islamists to stand trial on charges including conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt and divulging military secrets to a foreign state. The charges levelled yesterday against Mursi and other top Muslim Brotherhood members could result in their execution. Mursi is already standing trial for inciting violence during protests outside the presidential palace a year ago when he was still in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1385487/mohammed-mursi-and-muslim-brotherhood-members-stand-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1385487/mohammed-mursi-and-muslim-brotherhood-members-stand-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Dec 2013 17:41:25 +0000 Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered former President Mohammed Mursi and 34 other Islamists to stand trial on charges including conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt and divulging military secrets to a foreign state. The charges levelled against Mursi and other top Muslim Brotherhood members on Wednesday could result in their execution. Mursi is already standing trial for inciting violence during protests outside the presidential palace a year ago when he was still in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1385375/egypt-sends-mursi-others-trial-international-conspiracy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1385375/egypt-sends-mursi-others-trial-international-conspiracy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Dec 2013 14:51:30 +0000 On paper, a draft Egyptian constitution - which was made publicly available in its entirety for the first time over the weekend - appears to afford citizens important new rights, including criminalising torture and human trafficking and requiring that the state protect women from violence. But experts say the draft text also gives privileged status to institutions that have repeatedly thwarted change during Egypt's years of revolutionary turmoil, including the police, seen as the main instigator... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1371344/draft-egyptian-constitution-unlikely-lead-fundamental-change-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1371344/draft-egyptian-constitution-unlikely-lead-fundamental-change-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Dec 2013 14:45:45 +0000 A student was killed during an Islamist demonstration at Cairo University as Egyptian authorities continued their crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Mursi. The dead man was Mohammed Reda Mohammed Abdo, 19, a second-year engineering student, said senior health ministry official Ahmed al-Ansari and forensic authority spokesman Hisham Abdul Hamid. The circumstances of his death on Thursday were not immediately known. Medics said that seven people were also wounded. Witnesses said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1368820/supporter-mohammed-mursi-killed-during-student-protest-cairo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1368820/supporter-mohammed-mursi-killed-during-student-protest-cairo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:45:15 +0000 Egypt's interim president has banned public gatherings of more than 10 people without prior government approval, imposing hefty fines and prison terms for violators in a bid to stifle the near-constant protests roiling the country. The new law is more restrictive than regulations used under the rule of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in Egypt's 2011 uprising that marked the start of unrest in the country. Rights groups and activists immediately denounced it, saying it aims to stifle... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1365527/egypts-law-banning-protests-cover-repression-say-rights-groups?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1365527/egypts-law-banning-protests-cover-repression-say-rights-groups?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:29:43 +0000 After four months in secret detention, Egypt's deposed Islamist president defiantly rejected a court's authority to try him yesterday, saying he was the country's "legitimate" leader and those that overthrew him should face charges instead. The trial was then adjourned until January 8 after several interruptions. President Mohammed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected president, had been held at an undisclosed location since the military ousted him in a coup on July 3. Looking healthy, Mursi... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1347283/mursi-trial-egypt-under-security-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1347283/mursi-trial-egypt-under-security-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Nov 2013 06:16:00 +0000 Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohammed Mursi, goes on trial on Monday under a security crackdown that has devastated his Muslim Brotherhood movement and raised concerns that the army-backed government is reimposing a police state. A popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 raised hopes that Egyptians would break the military establishment’s longstanding grip on power. But the world’s most populous Arab nation has faltered in its political transition, and the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1346659/mursi-go-trial-egypt-struggles-democracy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1346659/mursi-go-trial-egypt-struggles-democracy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:32:52 +0000 Gunmen on a motorbike shot dead three people late on Sunday, including an eight-year-old girl, as they fired on a group outside a Coptic Christian church in Cairo, Egypt’s interior ministry said. The attack was the first such assault targeting Christians in the Egyptian capital since the military coup that ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi on July 3. It targeted a group of people who had emerged from the church in north Cairo’s Al-Warak neighbourhood after attending a wedding, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1336411/gunmen-kill-three-people-outside-coptic-christian-church-cairo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1336411/gunmen-kill-three-people-outside-coptic-christian-church-cairo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2013 01:57:46 +0000 Turmoil in US-Egyptian relations could harm American interests throughout the Middle East and the country's military-backed government might seek aid elsewhere, possibly from rivals of the United States, the Egyptian foreign minister says. The sharp tone of Nabil Fahmy's remarks appeared aimed at warning the Obama administration against trying to pressure Egyptian authorities into easing a harsh crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's biggest Islamist movement. Last week, the US... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1333807/egyptian-foreign-minister-warns-us-over-fractured-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1333807/egyptian-foreign-minister-warns-us-over-fractured-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2013 12:30:15 +0000 Egypt yesterday criticised the US decision to halt some aid to the army-backed government following a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that has plunged the country into a violent political crisis. Washington faces a dilemma in dealing with a major regional ally that controls the strategic Suez Canal and borders Israel but whose army overthrew the first freely elected president, Mohammed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule. The United States said it would withhold deliveries of tanks,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1328898/egypt-blasts-us-decision-halt-some-aid-army-backed-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1328898/egypt-blasts-us-decision-halt-some-aid-army-backed-government?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A string of attacks that killed nine members of the security forces and hit the main satellite communications station show a dangerous expansion of targets in Egypt, including the first strike against civilian infrastructure in the heart of the capital, Cairo. They also blur the lines between the country's political instability, continued protests against the military ousting of President Mohammed Mursi, and an insurgency that had previously been largely confined to the northern Sinai... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1327267/latest-attacks-signal-expansion-targets-instability-grows-egypt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1327267/latest-attacks-signal-expansion-targets-instability-grows-egypt?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Egypt's army chief has called for a quick transition to elections to restore stability to the country, while supporters of the Islamist president he ousted, Mohammed Mursi, staged daring protests urging an end to "military government". Mursi's supporters returned to Cairo's Tahrir Square to demonstrate there for the first time since he was removed from power in July. Since then, political tensions and a sharp rise in attacks by Islamist militants have hit tourism and investment in Egypt, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1322966/egypts-army-chief-sisi-calls-fora-quick-transition-elections?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1322966/egypts-army-chief-sisi-calls-fora-quick-transition-elections?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Two months after the military ousted Egypt's first elected president and began a crackdown on his supporters, a delegation of US House Republicans has visited Cairo to tell the new government to keep up the good work. "We are here as members of Congress to say, 'We are with you, and we encourage you'," Michele Bachmann said in a news conference broadcast over a pro-government satellite network and eagerly reported on Sunday by state news media. Amplifying the new government's portrayal of its... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1307202/conservative-us-lawmakers-hail-egyptian-armys-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1307202/conservative-us-lawmakers-hail-egyptian-armys-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Amr Moussa, a stalwart of the government of Egypt's veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak, has been selected to chair the committee entrusted with amending a constitution pushed through by the deposed Islamist president, Mohammed Mursi. Despite promising an inclusive approach, the army-backed government included only two Islamists on the crucial committee, neither from Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, now the target of a sweeping security crackdown after more than a year in power. Moussa, who was foreign... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1307206/moussa-minister-under-mubarak-lead-egypts-constitutional-reforms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1307206/moussa-minister-under-mubarak-lead-egypts-constitutional-reforms?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Egypt's chief prosecutor has ordered former president Mohammed Mursi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders to stand trial on charges including inciting murder. A panel of Egyptian judges recommended late yesterday the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood group, adding momentum to a push by authorities to ban the ousted Islamist president's main backers. In its recommendation to Egypt's administrative court, the panel of judges accused the Brotherhood of operating outside the law. It also... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1302112/former-egyptian-president-mohammed-mursi-face-trial-charge-incitement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1302112/former-egyptian-president-mohammed-mursi-face-trial-charge-incitement?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An Egyptian court adjourned on Sunday the trial of three jailed Muslim Brotherhood leaders because of their absence, with the judge ordering they be present for the next session in October. At the same time, toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak appeared in a separate court for his first hearing since he was released from jail to house arrest on Thursday. The hearings come against the backdrop of political uncertainty in the wake of the July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, followed by a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299341/trial-egypt-muslim-brotherhood-chiefs-adjourned-while-mubarak-appears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299341/trial-egypt-muslim-brotherhood-chiefs-adjourned-while-mubarak-appears?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Aug 2013 13:19:56 +0000 A Hong Kong-based Egyptian student yesterday told how he had witnessed at first hand some of the violence in his homeland. Ahmed Said, 26, a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology PhD student, went to Tahrir Square in Cairo to be part of the peaceful protest against the new military government after the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi on July 3. He said police fired randomly into the crowd. Said returned to Hong Kong on Friday, still badly shaken. "They used tear... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1299238/egyptians-hong-kong-deplore-violence-homeland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1299238/egyptians-hong-kong-deplore-violence-homeland?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The West has become afraid of its own shadow. The past few days have seen events which at first sight appear unconnected but are linked, both to fear of the unknown and lack of commitment to publicly espoused principles. There was the lack of reaction to the Egyptian army's bloody suppression of mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting at the overthrow of President Mohammed Mursi and his elected Muslim Brotherhood government. In practice, therefore, the US and many of its allies have put... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1299218/mystery-wests-missing-backbone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1299218/mystery-wests-missing-backbone?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 In February 2011, when Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak bowed to a popular uprising and relinquished power, US President Barack Obama welcomed the change and declared: "Egypt will never be the same." Two-and-a-half years after the elation of the Arab spring, Egypt looks much as it did under the ageing autocrat, only more violently polarised. Critics say Obama has mostly watched from the sidelines. Mubarak's court-ordered release from prison on Thursday in effect capped the end of Egypt's brief... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299033/failure-egypts-arab-spring-spells-dilemma-obama?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299033/failure-egypts-arab-spring-spells-dilemma-obama?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Egypt's bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has been a gift to al-Qaeda that will help it attract fresh followers and open a new front in the Middle East, experts say. The repression of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ousting of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi could see a new generation of radicals joining the movement founded by Osama bin Laden, they say. "There are fears that the bloody crushing of peaceful demonstrations will encourage an Islamist minority - convinced of the futility... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299035/egyptian-crackdown-against-islamists-aiding-al-qaeda?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1299035/egyptian-crackdown-against-islamists-aiding-al-qaeda?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Egypt's former autocrat Hosni Mubarak was flown from jail yesterday in a symbolic victory for an army-dominated old order that has overthrown and imprisoned his elected Islamist successor. A helicopter took Mubarak from Cairo's Tora prison, where scores of his supporters had gathered to hail his release. He was flown to a military hospital in the nearby southern suburb of Maadi, officials said. Video: Egypt's Mubarak transferred from jail to house arrest "He protected the country," said Lobna... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298530/egypt-prepares-release-deposed-leader-mubarak-jail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298530/egypt-prepares-release-deposed-leader-mubarak-jail?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Aug 2013 02:40:59 +0000 Egyptian authorities on Wednesday arrested two more Islamist figures: a top ally of the Muslim Brotherhood as he reportedly tried to flee to neighbouring Libya disguised as a woman, and a spokesman for the Islamist group on his way to catch a flight out of the country. The arrests are the latest in a crackdown by Egypt’s new military-backed leaders against the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which ousted President Mohammed Mursi hails. They came just a day after authorities detained the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298342/egypt-arrest-two-more-top-islamist-figures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298342/egypt-arrest-two-more-top-islamist-figures?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Aug 2013 08:47:10 +0000 Egypt’s interim prime minister said on Tuesday his country could live without aid from the United States as Washington and the EU review ties with Cairo amid a bloody crackdown on supporters of deposed president Mohammed Mursi. A defiant Hazem al-Beblawi told ABC news his country was heading in the “right direction” and he did “not fear civil war” despite the death of more than 900 people in a military-led campaign against Mursi backers. Earlier on Tuesday, authorities detained the head of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298287/egypt-interim-pm-defiant-aid-after-arrest-islamist-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298287/egypt-interim-pm-defiant-aid-after-arrest-islamist-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Aug 2013 02:46:35 +0000 Gangs of looters took advantage of the violent clashes in Egypt to steal a priceless 3,500-year-old limestone statue, ancient beaded jewellery and more than 1,000 other valuable artefacts. The scale of the looting of the Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya showed the security vacuum that has taken hold in cities outside Cairo, where police have all but disappeared from the streets. Days after vandals ransacked the building last Wednesday, there were no police or soldiers in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298175/egyptian-looters-steal-priceless-statue-hundreds-artefacts-museum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1298175/egyptian-looters-steal-priceless-statue-hundreds-artefacts-museum?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Egypt’s army-backed authorities detained the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader on Tuesday, signalling their determination to crush the group and silence protests against the ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi. The arrest of Mohamed Badie, 70, the Brotherhood’s general guide, followed the bloody suppression of rallies demanding the reinstatement of Egypt’s first freely elected president, who was toppled by the military last month. Egypt is enduring the worst internal strife in its modern... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1297982/egyptian-muslim-brotherhood-leader-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1297982/egyptian-muslim-brotherhood-leader-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2013 01:58:08 +0000