The Higher Election Committee (HEC), a seven-member judicial body in charge of overseeing parliamentary polls, is expected to complete all measures necessary for parliamentary polls to be held before the end of this year.

POLITICS

Parliamentary elections date to be announced in October: Source
The Higher Election Committee (HEC), a seven-member judicial body in charge of overseeing parliamentary polls, is expected to complete all measures necessary for parliamentary polls to be held before the end of this year. Sources close to Egypt’s transitional justice minister and house of representatives affairs, Ibrahim al-Heneidy said the HEC is expected to meet after the one week Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, scheduled to begin on October 4. The HEC meetings will also come after the government has almost finalized drafting a new electoral districts law. Sources expect that HEC will meet in the second week of October to announce the dates of registration and campaigning for the polls. It is anticipated that parliamentary polls will be held over three stages, with each stage including nine governorates. If everything goes smoothly, by January or February at the latest, Egypt will see a new parliament meeting for the first time in two years. [Ahram Online, 9/15/2014]

Protest law to be amended, says ministry official
The contentious protest law will be amended to meet the demands of the Egyptian street, spokesperson of the Transitional Justice Ministry Mahmoud Fawzy told the Turkish Anadolu Agency on Monday. This follows a review of the law by the ministry and suggested amendments from the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR). [Mada Masr, 9/15/2014]

Also of Interest:
Ministry of transitional justice denies holding reconciliation talks with Brotherhood | EGYNews (Arabic)

COURTS

Muslim Brotherhood leader sentenced to life in prison for murder and inciting violence
The Giza Criminal Court sentenced on Monday Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and fourteen others to life in prison for murder and inciting violence. The fifteen defendants were tried for violence which occurred following the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Giza’s Bahr al-Azam neighborhood on July 15, 2013. Violent clashes broke out in the neighborhood following a pro-Morsi protest, in which five people were killed. Other defendants include Brotherhood leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed al-Beltagy, former Supply and Internal Trade Minister Bassem Ouda and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy. [Aswat Masriya, Ahram Online, DNE, Mada Masr, Reuters, 9/15/2014]

Also of Interest:
Moqattam rock fall defendants have sentences reduced | Ahram Online
Seventeen Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to three to five years | Shorouk (Arabic)
Morsi’s nephew acquitted of Zagazig rioting charges | Egypt Independent
Alaa Abdel Fattah and others released from Tora Prison | Aswat Masriya, Shorouk (Arabic)
Moqattam clashes trial resumes Tuesday | EGYNews (Arabic)
Detention of 124 Brotherhood members extended, eight released in Damanhour | EGYNews (Arabic)
Legislative reform lifts restrictions on accepting non-Egyptian students in universities | AMAY (Arabic)

ECONOMY

President Sisi delivers blueprint for economic growth
Speaking at the Euromoney’s Egypt Conference: Stability, Investment, and Growth, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivered the following message: “Egypt’s economic revival is first and foremost being driven by the ongoing restoration of confidence in the country’s path.  Growing confidence rests on the structural reforms the government has already implemented – as well as on the many additional reforms still in the pipeline – to correct fundamental deficiencies in our economy. [DNE, 9/16/2014]

100 days of Sisi: So far so good, say economists
After 100 days in power, Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been given a cautious thumbs up by economists. Egypt had made progress patching up its broken energy sector. Economists believe that more subsidy cuts are to come. [FT, IBTimes, 9/15/2014]

Also of Interest:
Presidential decree reallocates state land to National Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation | Shorouk (Arabic)
Presidential decree Decision to use land for tourism | Shorouk (Arabic)
Egypt waiting for ‘appropriate moment’ to issue dollar bonds: Finance minister | DNE
Egypt targets eleven percent budget deficit in fiscal 2014-15, says finance minister | Reuters
Euromoney Conferences: Egypt eyes more Southeast Asian, Gulf tourists | DNE
Egypt needs at least $28 billion in private sector investments: Minister | Ahram Online
Egypt-EU cooperation in the water sector covers nine governorates | Shorouk (Arabic)
Egypt to generate 8 GW from solar, wind energy | Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya
90 percent of energy subsidies to be lifted within three years: Finance minister | DNE
We need an economic DNA, Hisham Ezz al-Arab tells Euromoney | Ahram Online
Egypt raises $8.5 billion for Suez Canal expansion | Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, AP, AMAY (Arabic)
Suez Canal corridor project will cost $220 billion in fifteen years, minister tells Euromoney | Ahram Online

SOCIETY & MEDIA

April 6 founder Ahmed Maher joins hunger strike; 295 on hunger strike nationwide
Ahmed Maher, the jailed former head of the April 6 Youth Movement, has joined a growing hunger strike movement. Maher, who founded the now-banned movement, stopped eating on September 15, April 6 member Zizo Abdou said. The number of those on hunger strike in solidarity with prisoners and detainees of conscience in the country has reached 295, the “Freedom for the Brave” movement said Tuesday. The group also expressed concern over the health of Mohamed Sultan, a detained Egyptian-American who has been on hunger strike for 233 days. They said a prison official had told Sultan’s mother and a US embassy representative that Sultan could not meet them due to his deteriorating condition. [Ahram Online, Shorouk (Arabic), 9/16/2014]

Three political groups frozen at Cairo University
The head of Cairo University on Monday made official a previous decision to ban political activity on campus by announcing a freeze on groups affiliated with three of Egypt’s most prominent political parties. Gaber Nasser said in press statements that groups affiliated with the Constitution Party, the Strong Egypt Party and the Salafist Nour Party have been frozen due to partisan activities not being allowed on campus. Nasser also said protests in student dormitories will be completely banned during the upcoming academic year, scheduled to start on October 11. [Ahram Online, Al-Monitor, 9/15/2014]

Ministry officials seek arrest powers to protect mosques
The Ministry of endowments plans to grant judicial arrest powers to its officials and inspectors to protect mosques from “non-specialized” preachers, the ministry said in an official statement on Monday. The plans were made in a meeting between Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Goma’a and Minister of Justice Mahfouz Saber, during which Goma’a handed Saber a list of inspectors to be given arrest powers. The powers, if granted, would facilitate the arrest of any religious preachers who are not officially authorized by the ministry to give Friday sermons. Mada Masr, 9/15/2014]

Also of Interest:

SECURITY

Six policemen killed in roadside bombing in Sinai
Six policemen were killed on Tuesday when an explosion struck an armored vehicle in North Sinai, the interior ministry said. An IED planted on the Rafah – Arish road caused the blast as the vehicle passed by. A police officer and five conscripts were killed, while two others were injured. The Interior Ministry and a security official said the bomb was hidden deep under the asphalt of a highway, in an area called Wadi Halfa, where a joint police and army force was passing early in the morning. The official said the blast shredded the armored vehicle and tore the policemen’s bodies to pieces. The force was assigned to detect explosives but it was unclear if they were searching for them at the time of the attack. [Ahram Online, DNE, AP, Mada Masr, Aswat Masriya, Reuters, Egypt Independent, EGYNews (Arabic), 9/16/2014]

Coptic Christians clash with police in Egypt
A couple hundred Christian protesters clashed with police in southern Egypt after holding a demonstration on Tuesday in front of a police station demanding authorities locate an abducted housewife, a security official said. The official says protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at a police station in Samalout town, in Minya province, wounding three policemen. The police arrested at least thirty-three protesters. The official says the demonstration was over the abduction of a 37-year-old Coptic housewife, who went missing two weeks ago. [AP, 9/16/2014]

Also of Interest:
Interior Ministry says it arrested four terrorist cells | Aswat Masriya
Migrant boat was ‘deliberately sunk’ in Mediterranean sea, killing 500 | The Guardian

INTERNATIONAL

Turkey would welcome Muslim Brotherhood figures who leave Qatar: Erdogan
Turkey would welcome senior figures from Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood after they were asked to leave Qatar under pressure from other Gulf Arab states, Turkish media quoted President Tayyip Erdogan as saying late on Monday. A senior Brotherhood official based in London said on Saturday that Qatar had asked seven senior figures from the movement to leave the country after its neighbors pressed it to stop backing the Islamists. [Reuters, Shorouk (Arabic), 9/16/2014]

Also of Interest:
Opening of Egypt-Sudan border crossing sign of reconciliation | Al-Monitor
French defense minister to meet Egypt’s Sisi in Cairo | Ahram Online
Egypt and UK military officials meet for regional talks | Ahram Online
Egypt to order military plane to assist flood affected areas in Sudan | Shorouk (Arabic)