Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the United States and Europe on Thursday to help the Libyan army in its fight against Islamist militants now to save the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria.

POLITICS

Egypt waiting on results of Gulf’s truce with Qatar, says Sisi
In what is considered his first direct reaction on Gulf states’ reconciliation with Qatar, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told France 24 on Thursday that Egypt was still waiting for the results of the agreement before taking any steps of its own. Sisi’s statement comes a day after Egypt’s presidency said it welcomed the reconciliation with Qatar. [Ahram Online, 11/20/2014]

Also of Interest
Sufis look for a political role in Egypt | Al-Monitor

COURTS

Brotherhood leader Bishr detained fifteen days for ‘espionage’
Egyptian authorities on Thursday ordered fifteen days detention for a Muslim Brotherhood leader who served as a cabinet minister under deposed president Mohamed Morsi. Mohamed Ali Bishr, who was arrested earlier in the day, is accused of “spying for foreign states,” conspiring to commit violence and belonging to the Brotherhood. The Arab Penal Reform Organization and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said Bishr’s arrest violates the constitution, and peaceful demonstration is not a crime. [Ahram Online, EGYNews (Arabic), 11/21/2014]

Eleven Brotherhood members sent to Egypt’s military prosecution
Eleven members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood were referred on Thursday to military prosecutors for questioning over accusations of rioting and planting a bomb in a court. Six of the members face accusations of disrupting railway tracks in August while five others are accused, in a separate incident, of planting a sound bomb in the local court complex. Originally from the Nile Delta governorate of Kafr al-Sheikh, the defendants were referred to military prosecutors in Alexandria. They had been detained pending investigations by the general prosecution in Kafr al-Sheikh before being referred to a military court. [Ahram Online, 11/20/2014]

Also of Interest
Family of detained Al Jazeera journalist appeals to Sisi for release | Aswat Masriya, Huffington Post, The Guardian
Prosecution detains two Brotherhood members fifteen days pending investigation for arson | EGYNews (Arabic)
Dostour Party files lawsuit against the forced disappearance of its member since January | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

ECONOMY

Egypt stocks inch up as rally loses steam
Egypt stocks continued to rally on Thursday while turnover value of listed stocks weakened. Benchmark EGX30 index climbed 0.41 percent to close at 9,258 points. Local investors were net-buyers for EGP2.3 million and Arab investors for EGP2.6 million while other foreign investors were net-sellers to the tune of EGP4.9 million as total turnover of listed stocks recorded a weak EGP536.7 million. Egyptian investors accounted for 85 percent of market activity. [Ahram Online, 11/20/2014]

Also of Interest
Abu Dhabi to host ‘Invest in Egypt’ conference next week | Ahram Online
Egypt’s mobile lines fall 1.8 million on security clean-up | Ahram Online
CBE Governor vows more measures to eliminate black market | SIS
122 million cubic meters dug at new Suez Canal | SIS
Suez Canal chairman confirms return on exchange certificates starting from December 7 | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

SOCIETY & MEDIA

Limited Brotherhood protests dispersed in Egypt
At least twelve people were arrested in anti-government protests in several Egyptian cities on Friday. Police arrested ten protesters in Alexandria, where the banned Muslim Brotherhood staged five marches against the government and also demanded the release of their detained colleagues.  In Nile Delta city of Damietta two Brotherhood members were arrested at similar demonstrations. Meanwhile, police in Cairo fired teargas at demonstrators in Ain Shams district, a regular site of demonstrations despite a security crackdown that has seen thousands arrested.  [Ahram Online, Ahram Gateway (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic), 11/21/2014]

Twenty-nine released, three still detained, after Mohamed Mahmoud protests
Almost all the protesters arrested on Wednesday during a march in downtown Cairo to commemorate the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes in 2011 have been released by police, activists said. Baho Bakhash, a member of the Freedom for the Brave, a campaign to release political detainees in Egypt, said that twenty-nine people have been released, while three remain in detention and will be referred to the prosecutor-general on Thursday. The three detained protesters are Mohamed al-Sherif, from the Bread and Freedom Party, along with Mohamed Ashraf and Marwan Hussein. [Ahram Online, 11/20/2014]

Also of Interest
New Egypt comic artists push limits of expression | AP
Church in Minya reopens after military’s reconstruction | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
Minister of social solidarity: we did not reject Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary’s reconcile request but demanded name change | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
More singers banned from Egyptian state broadcasts | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)
Egypt’s Al-Azhar condemns carrying of the Quran in protests | Ahram Online

SECURITY

Militant group Ajnad Misr claims Helwan University blast
Ajnad Misr, a jihadist militant group operating in Egypt, has claimed responsibility for a bomb that exploded at Helwan University on Thursday, injuring four policemen. The group said in a statement published on its Twitter account and circulated on jihadist sites that the attack was a “quick reply to the policemen [targeting] university youths.” Egyptian universities have been the scene of unrest since the start of the new academic year, with recurrent clashes occurring between police and students protesting against the government. [Ahram Online, DNE, Aswat Masriya, 11/21/2014]

Also of Interest
One policeman killed, one injured in Egypt’s Sharqiya attack | Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
Military seizes food supplies for “extremists” in Sinai | Aswat Masriya (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic)
Egypt closes schools in Sinai towns as area inches toward open war | Reuters
Security forces continue antiterrorism operations, kill seven and arrest ninety-seven | Ahram (Arabic)

INTERNATIONAL

UN ‘deeply concerned’ over Egypt FGM acquittal
The United Nations has expressed its “deep concern” over the acquittal of defendants accused of carrying out FGM on a girl who later died from her injuries, the first trial of its kind in Egypt.
“There is no moral, religious or health reason to cut or mutilate any girl or woman. Traditions that demean, dehumanize and injure are human rights violations that must be actively opposed until they are ended,” the UN said in a statement on Thursday. The UN also said it “encourages review of current legislation to ensure that it fully protects the rights of women and girls, and that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are brought to justice.” [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, Aswat Masriya, Ahram Gateway (Arabic), 11/21/2014]

Egypt’s Sisi calls on West to support Libya to avoid new Syria, Iraq
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the United States and Europe on Thursday to help the Libyan army in its fight against Islamist militants now to save the country from requiring intervention on the scale of Iraq and Syria. Sisi said there was a danger to the region from conflict in Libya where two governments vie for legitimacy, one in Tripoli linked to Islamist militias, and an internationally-recognized government in the eastern city of Tobruk. Egypt says militants cross the border to help Egyptian jihadist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis attack Egypt’s security forces in the Sinai Peninsula. [Reuters, 11/21/2014]

Also of Interest
Russia’s Putin to visit Egypt early next year | Ahram Online, Egypt Independent
South Korea PM arrives in Egypt to talk nuclear projects | Egypt Independent
Sisi meets Sudanese media delegation | SIS, Ahram (Arabic)
Egypt is South Sudan’s partner in development, says PM | SIS
PM chairs meeting over president’s coming China visit | SIS
Foreign ministry urges Canada to lift travel ban on Egypt | SIS
Foreign ministry meets with Asian ambassadors to gain support for Egypt’s membership of the UN Security Council | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
Egypt condemns terrorist attack in Nigeria | EGYNews (Arabic)
Egypt to host Africa peace-building workshop with UN next Monday | Shorouk (Arabic)