Egypt’s State Commissioners Authority, a body that advises the government on legal issues, has recommended the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood. Late on Sunday, Egypt’s prosecutor-general ordered the referral of cases against deposed president Mohamed Morsi and fourteen other defendants to criminal court, concerning their alleged responsibility for clashes that took place last December in front of the presidential palace in Cairo.
GOVERNMENT & OPPOSITION

Judicial advisory body recommends dissolution of Egypt’s Brotherhood 
Egypt’s State Commissioners Authority, a body that advises the government on legal issues, has recommended the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood. In an announcement on Monday, the Authority also called for the group’s national headquarters in Cairo’s Moqattam to be closed. The recommendations were made in accordance with Law 84 of 2002, which prohibits non-government organizations and institutions from forming paramilitary groups. While short of a formal ban on the Brotherhood, which worked underground for decades under Egypt’s previous military-backed rulers, the panel’s advice to a court to remove its non-governmental organization status threatens the million-member movement’s future in politics. Meanwhile, the Administrative Court postponed its ruling on the legality of Brotherhood until December 10, in order to review recommendations by the board of state commissioners. [Ahram Online, Reuters, Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, 9/2/2013]

Al-Jama’a al-Islamiya: Legitimacy Alliance willing to end demos against Brotherhood arrests
Mohamed Hassan, media advisor to al-Jama’a al-Islamiya, has said that the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has accepted the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s offer to mediate between the alliance and the leaders of the military. The offer to mediate comes as part of group’s initiative to end the political crisis between pro-Morsi supporters and the current government. Meanwhile, several activists released a statement detailing an initiative to end the current political crisis and reach reconciliation that accepts all political factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Led by Constitution Party member and former spokesperson of the National Salvation Front (NSF) Khaled Daoud, the initiative seeks to form a Supreme Committee for National Reconciliation, as suggested in the July 3 roadmap, that would include representatives of different political orientations. [Egypt Independent, Ahram Online, 9/3/2013]

Also of Interest:
First interview with Egypt’s interim president to be aired on Tuesday | Ahram Online
Pro-Morsi protests will do no good, says Nour leader | DNE
Presidential spokesperson meets with, praises Tagammu Party | Mada Masr
Former President’s advisor says ‘coup government’ killed more than 3,000 Egyptians | Egypt Independent
Labor law out for dialogue | DNE
Presidential media adviser to meet with Egypt’s Tamarod leaders | Ahram Online

COURTS & CONSTITUTION

Egypt’s ousted president Morsi referred to criminal court over December 2012 violence 
Late on Sunday, Egypt’s prosecutor-general ordered the referral of cases against deposed president Mohamed Morsi and fourteen other defendants to criminal court, concerning their alleged responsibility for clashes that took place last December in front of the presidential palace in Cairo. The fourteen defendants include Muslim Brotherhood leaders Essam al-Erian and Mohamed al-Beltagy; Islamist preacher Sheikh Wagdy Ghoneim; head of Morsi’s presidential bureau Ahmed Abdel-Ati; deputy-head of the presidential office Asaad Sheikha; former presidential advisor Ayman Abdel-Raouf; in addition to Islamist youth Ahmed al-Mogheir and Abdel-Rahman Ezz. The charges against Morsi include inciting his followers and assistants to commit crimes of premeditated murder and use violence and thuggery. [Ahram Online, DNE, Reuters, 9/3/2013]

Latest Brotherhood members arrested include Sobhi Saleh, Farid Ismail and Saad al-Husseini 
Egyptian security forces arrested Saad al-Husseini, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s guidance bureau and former governor of Kafr al-Sheikh, on Monday. Farid Ismail, a former member of parliament and member of the Freedom and Justice Party’s (FJP) Executive Office Farid Ismail, was arrested in Sharqiya on Sunday. Hatem al-Nashar, head of the Doctors’ Syndicate division in Fayoum, was arrested in his home for charges of inciting violence during recent attacks on the governorate’s headquarters and a police station. Mohamed Kamaleddin, member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Office and one of its leading members in Upper Egypt, was arrested in Assiut, also in his home. Former Shura Council and Brotherhood member Sobhi Saleh was arrested on Saturday near Alexandria. Ahmed Nureddine Mansour, a leading member of al-Jama’a al-Islamiya, was arrested on Sunday, on charges of plotting to attack the army.  The prosecution referred former Culture Minister Alaa Abdel Aziz to investigation regarding allegations of indecent behavior during his time as an instructor at the High Cinema Institute. On Sunday, Mohamed Badie’s detention was extended for another fifteen days, pending investigations into new charges of inciting violence. On Saturday, a security source told Al-Ahram Badie suffered a heart attack in Tora prison. The Interior Ministry, however, said he was in good health and denied reports that he had died, while his family also said he is in good spirits. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday it holds the Interior Ministry and the General Prosecution Office accountable for his well-being. For the fourth time, Southern Cairo Prosecution renewed the detentions of Saad al-Katatni and Mahdi Akef for fifteen days, pending investigation, as well as renewing Mohamed al-Beltagy’s detention for another fifteen days. Beltagy and Badie’s investigations continued on Sunday. The Muslim Brotherhood’s former Minister of  Manpower, Khaled al-Azhary has also been detained fifteen days pending investigation. Five Brotherhood members were arrested earlier on charges of assaulting police installations and public property, while two Brotherhood leaders were detained in Helwan for fifteen days on charges of assaulting the security at a metro station. Twenty-one Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested in Beni Suef, as well as thirty-two individuals in Giza (thirteen of which are Muslim Brotherhood and Ahrar movement members) who participated in protests over the past two weeks. A Cairo court renewed the detention of 141 people, reportedly supporters of Morsi, for forty-five days pending investigations into mid-July’s Cairo clashes. Meanwhile, an Egyptian military official says a military tribunal sentenced eleven supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to life imprisonment and forty-five others to five years in prison over charges of assaulting army troops during riots last month in Suez. [DNE, Ahram Online, AP, Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, 9/3/2013]

Egypt names key constitution panel with few Islamists 
The fifty people committee tasked with drafting the constitution was announced by interim President Adly Mansour Sunday, together with forty-nine alternate names. The fifty-member list includes only two Islamist figures, five women, and four Copts. The assembly should finish its work in sixty days after their first meeting, which is arranged to be next Sunday. The presidency said six Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, had been approached to fill the two seats set aside for Islamists. Only Nour had responded. Meanwhile, Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau member Mohamed Ali Bishr said that neither the Brotherhood nor the Freedom and Justice Party were invited to participate in the committee. The Salafi Nour Party also said that the committee marginalizes the Islamic current, with spokesman Sherif Taha arguing that the assembly only represents the “nationalist” and “leftist” agenda and deliberately excludes Islamists. Salafi Call leader Yasser Borhamy accused Egyptian authorities of rigging the constitutional amendment process against Islamists. Alaa Abu al-Nasr, general secretary of the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s Building and Development Party, said the committee does not give legitimacy to the current interim-government. Ayman Abu-Ela, Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs in the Social Democratic Party, expressed his complete satisfaction with the formation of the committee. Abdel Ghafar Shukr, the leader of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, praised the committee describing it as being representative of all Egyptians. Mai Wahba, spokesperson for the Tamarod movement, of which two members are on the list, hailed the make-up of the committee. April 6 co-founder Ahmed Maher described the list as largely balanced. He expressed satisfaction with the number of youth representatives on the committee, but emphasized that the most import thing is the “final product.” Dostour Party member, Ahmed El Hawary, said that the party finds the formation satisfactory and consensual. Emad Hamdy, spokesman for the Popular Current party said that the formation is balanced, but “could have been better.” Free Egyptians Party spokesperson, Shehab Wagih, said that the party accepts the formation but raises questions over “some names” that do not agree with the standards put for the assembly’s membership. The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights denounced what it called a “lean” representation of women on the committee. However, some women’s rights activists and female politicians said that while the committee may be lacking in quantity of female representation, the chosen members are of good quality. [Ahram Online, Mada Masr, Reuters, Egypt Independent, DNE, 9/2/2013]

Also of interest:
Khaled Said trial adjourned to October | Egypt Independent, DNE
Egyptian authorities detain suspected ‘spy’ bird | AP
Qursaya residents appeal military zone | DNE
Egypt’s Prosecutor-General orders prison search for incidents of torture | Ahram Online
Detention of 106 for torching churches in Minya | Ahram Online
Hassan Mostafa trial postponed to November | Ahram Online

ECONOMY

UAE to shower Egypt with additional $2 billion in deposits, grants
Tareq al-Mulla, Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Authority, said Monday the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has agreed with the Ministry of Petroleum to send four shipments of petroleum products including gasoline and diesel fuel in September. Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, has pledged an additional $2 billion aid comprising deposits and grants to support Egypt. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, SIS, 9/3/2013]

Foreign debt reaches $34.8 billion by the end of Q3 2013/2014
Foreign debt has increased $5 billon year-on-year from $33.4 billion to $38.4 billion by the end of the third quarter of 2013/2014, while year-on-year increases of debt as a percentage of GDP increased from 13.1 percent to 14.7 percent during this time. [DNE, 9/2/2013]
Also of Interest:
Stock market loses LE2.4 billion on Monday | Egypt Independent
EGX 30 falls in Monday trade | Mada Masr
Business changes in the new constitution | DNE

SOCIETY & MEDIA

Egypt court rules closure of Jazeera, al-Hafez and three other channels 
An Administrative Court ordered on Tuesday to stop the broadcasting of a number of satellite channels including Al-Jazeera. Other channels banned from broadcasting include al-Quds, al-Yarmouk and Ahrar 25 January channels. The court also ordered the closure of their offices. An administrative court also accepted an appeal to stop the religious al-Hafez channel from airing and suspended its license. Actor Hany Ramzy had filed a lawsuit against the channel after talk show presenter Abdallah Badr insulted him on air, calling Ramzy a criminal and a clown, and threatening to shoot the comedian and others like him dead with a rifle. The court’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed. Egypt also deported three Al-Jazeera journalists on Sunday. The reporters were deported after being arrested four days earlier on charges of covering events in Egypt with unlicensed devices and without obtaining the necessary approvals. Security forces raided Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr’s offices in Agouza, Dokki and al-Warraq on Friday, while Al-Jazeera English offices were raided on Sunday, confiscating broadcasting equipment and arresting the office’s financial manager. Reporters Without Borders (RWB) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the Friday raid. In a statement issued by RWB on Monday, over the past two months, five journalists have been killed and at least eighty have been arbitrarily detained. Of the eighty journalists who have been detained, seven remain in custody. [DNE, Mada Masr, Ahram Online, Reuters, Aswat Masriya, AP, 9/2/2013]

Islamists plan rallies on Tuesday; Up to eight killed in Friday protests 
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called for a new round of demonstrations on Tuesday under the title “the coup is terrorism” to commemorate the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi two months ago. The announcement comes despite the relatively low turnout its recent protests have yielded. On Tuesday, the pro-Morsi coalition is planning a “million-person march” in all squares as well as “press conferences exposing the crimes of the coup and revealing their faults,” according to a statement the coalition released on Saturday. The military blocked all entrances to Tahrir Square and other state institutions Tuesday morning with barbed wire and armored vehicles, ahead of the protests. Friday’s protests in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi showed a relatively low turnout compared with previous rallies organized since the former president’s ouster. Clashes occurred at many of the rallies across the countries, leading to six deaths and dozens of injuries after scuffles between protesters and police forces, or in some cases local residents. Egypt’s health ministry said that eight people were killed and 221 injured nationwide in clashes Friday. The ministry’s statement did not distinguish between civilians and police force. It said that out of the eight, two were killed in Cairo, three in Giza, and one each in Port Said and Ismailia governorates. Police also arrested 230 people in the clashes. [Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya, DNE, Mada Masr, Reuters, 9/3/2013]

Also of Interest:
April 6 member dies of injuries in Brotherhood-police August clashes | Ahram Online, DNE
Thirty-five Arab NGOs demand fact-finding committee on Egypt | Ahram Online, DNE, Mada Masr
Rights organization demands investigation into alleged torture of MB leader | DNE
Ahmed Maher denies spying and foreign funding accusations | Egypt Independent

SECURITY

Security attack kills eight militants in Sinai; Top Sinai militant confesses to murder of twenty five policemen 
At least eight Islamist militants were killed in Sinai on Tuesday and fifteen injured in an attack by military Apache helicopters on areas deemed to be sites used by anti-government militants, Egyptian news agency MENA reported. Additionally, North Sinai Security forces arrested three individuals thought to have been involved in the murder of twenty five soldiers two weeks ago in the Abu Tawila region located along the international Al-Arish/Rafah road. However, Sinai militant Adel Mohamed Ibrahim, also known as Adel Habara, confessed on Sunday to the murder of the twenty five policemen, a security source told state news agency MENA. Habara has already been sentenced to death in absentia for killing soldiers in the Nile Delta last year. The armed forces also arrested six suspects on Saturday in North Sinai. The military statement said that five of those arrested are Palestinian nationals. Meanwhile, armed assailants in al-Arish killed a police chief Friday night while the former was returning home. [Ahram Online, DNE, Aswat Masriya, Mada Masr, Reuters, AP, 9/3/2013]

Egypt arrests three after gun attack on ship in Suez Canal: shippers brace for more Suez turmoil
Egyptian authorities arrested three people who opened fire with machine guns on a ship passing through the Suez Canal, an army source said on Sunday, playing down what the waterway’s chief described as a terrorist attack. During Saturday’s unsuccessful attack, the Panamanian-registered container ship COSCO ASIA came under fire in a northern section of the Suez Canal. The canal is a major trade waterway and is secured by the Egyptian armed forces. “There was an attempt to disrupt security in an area called el-Qantara as they fired at a ship in an attempt to halt [traffic on] the waterway,” said the army source. The attack has heightened risks for merchant shipping using the vital waterway, with further threats considered likely as political turmoil continues in Egypt. [Ahram Online, Reuters, Egypt Independent, 9/3/2013]

Also of Interest:
Three Zamalek players arrested | DNE
Four policemen injured in armed attack at Port Said church | Ahram Online, DNE
Egypt security stops pro-Morsi supporters from freeing suspects | Aswat Masriya
Al Qaeda leader’s family members arrested in Nasr City | DNE
One army conscript dead, three soldiers injured in Port Said | DNE
Egypt curfew further moved to 11 p.m. starting Saturday | Ahram Online

REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Egypt destroys homes for possible Gaza Buffer Zone  
Egyptian security forces have destroyed some twenty houses along the border with Gaza, local residents said on Tuesday, in what the Palestinian enclave’s Islamist Hamas rulers fear is an effort to build a buffer zone to isolate them. Residents on the Egyptian side of the border say the armed forces suspect the homes are being used to hide tunnel entrances or provide cover for other militant activity. Ehab Ghussein, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, said he feared the creation of a buffer zone would be a step toward imposing “a new blockade on Gaza and increase the suffering of its people.” He called instead for the establishment of a free trade zone at the Egypt-Gaza border. Officials in the Gaza Strip say an Egyptian military crackdown on smuggling tunnels has led to dire shortages of fuel in the Palestinian territory. [Ahram Online, Reuters, AP 9/3/2013]

Hamas arrests Egyptians in Gaza Saturday, releases them Sunday 
Security services in Gaza arrested Adel Abdel Rahman, head of the Egyptian community in Palestine. Zeyad al-Masry, head of the Egyptian cultural center in the West Bank, told the state-run news agency MENA on Saturday that fifteen police personnel from Hamas attacked the center in Gaza and arrested Abdel Rahman. They also confiscated the center’s computers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Gaza authorities for the arrest of Egyptian citizens and demanded their release. Foreign ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Atty announced Sunday that the Egyptians were released. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, DNE, 9/3/2013]

United States names David Satterfield temporary envoy to Egypt  
Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday tapped a career diplomat to temporarily replace the outgoing US ambassador to Egypt, who is leaving Cairo amid the Obama administration’s ongoing review of American assistance to the country. David Satterfield, who previously served as ambassador to Lebanon and held numerous senior Middle East-related positions at the White House and State Department, will serve as charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Cairo, replacing Anne Patterson, who departed on Friday. Satterfield will serve as the top American envoy to Egypt until a new ambassador is nominated and confirmed by the Senate. [Ahram Online, AP, DNE, 9/3/2013]

Also of Interest:
Al-Qaeda in Iraq calls on Egyptians to fight army AP, Reuters
Giza police station hit with explosion, two injured | Ahram Online, DNE, Mada Masr
Al-Azhar condemns possible strike on Syria | DNE, Mada Masr
Fahmy meets his Libyan and Saudi counterparts | DNE
Egypt needs rule of law, says French foreign minister | DNE
Egyptian consul in Tripoli assaulted | Mada Masr
Between deportation and public rejection, Syrian refugees suffer in Egypt | Ahram Online
Sisi meets with UAE prince | DNE
Egypt’s African Union suspension will be lifted: Delegation member | Ahram Online
PM to AU representatives: Egypt committed to roadmap | Aswat Masriya
Egyptian consul in Libya assaulted, vehicle carjacked |  Egypt Independent
Hamas denies involvement in Sinai violence | Egypt Independent
Egypt reopens Rafah Crossing on Saturday | Aswat Masriya