The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) said in a statement Friday that remarks made in a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the dispersal of the pro-Morsi Raba’a al-Adeweya and Nahda sit-ins last year violate the professional and ethical standards of research.

POLITICS

Sisi meets with Cairo governor to plan for city-wide revamp
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Cairo Governor Galal Saeed on Thursday to discuss the infrastructural challenges facing the nation’s capital, reported the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA). In the meeting, Saeed cited traffic, informal housing settlements and unregulated street vendors as some of Cairo’s most pressing problems. Sisi reportedly asked Saeed to coordinate with governmental institutions to ease the bureaucratic hurdles to improving quality of life for the average Egyptian, who has “suffered so much and is due to receive his full rights,” the president said. The governor plans to introduce new housing developments, improved public transportation and an overall “civilized” environment, said MENA. [Mada Masr, Al-Ahram (Arabic), 8/21/2014]

Also of Interest:

• Popular Current and Nour Party criticize government and call for immediate solution to electricity crisis | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Egyptian Front to begin selection of candidates tomorrow | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Sabbahi calls on government to quickly address electricity crisis | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)
• Minister of endowments: Suez Canal project is step towards independence | EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic)

COURTS

Rights group wins lawsuit against MOI in torture case
Egypt’s courts have sided with the Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO) in a lawsuit against the ministry of interior, compelling the ministry to pay EGP 403,000 to torture victims, the group announced in a statement released on Wednesday. APRO had filed 16 complaints against the ministry on behalf of political prisoners who were tortured while held in detention under former President Hosni Mubarak’s administration. The organization won the initial cases, but the ministry refused to pay the mandated damages, prompting APRO to file another suit for violating a court order. State-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Thursday that the ministry had already issued checks to pay the damages and settle the latest lawsuit. [Mada Masr, 8/21/2014]

Australia waits for Peter Greste appeal before seeking clemency
Australia is to delay a request to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seeking clemency for jailed journalist Peter Greste until all the journalist’s appeal avenues are exhausted. Speaking on radio on Friday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was not going to comment on the legal tactics of the Greste family’s lawyers. “I just want to do whatever we reasonably can to get Peter Greste and his colleagues released as quickly as possible,” he said. He added that it was only after all legal processes had been exhausted that there was a possibility of presidential clemency. [The Guardian, 8/21/2014]

Also of Interest:

• Five arrested for kidnapping and assaulting girl in Alexandria | Shorouk (Arabic)

ECONOMY

Subsidy recipients in Egypt reluctant to respond to ministry initiative
Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, head of the control and distribution department at Egypt’s ministry of supply, explained the “Return your Card” initiative launched by the ministry. He said that giving up the card is optional and according to people’s needs. While Abdel Aziz stated that there is no official number of those who have returned their cards, ministry spokesperson Mahmoud Diab had told Al-Ahram in a previous interview that about 165,000 cards have been returned. [Mada Masr, 8/21/2014]

Also of Interest:

• 13.6 million cubic meters drilled as part of Suez Canal project | Egypt Independent, SIS
• Egypt to issue 550 million Euros in one-year treasury bills | Aswat Masriya
• Sisi orders developing slums, easing citizens’ lives | SIS
• PM discusses development of northwest coast | SIS, EGYNews (Arabic), AMAY (Arabic)
• Egypt’s ITIDA, global IDC agree to increase IT investments | SIS
• Agreement made for British investments east of Gabal al-Zeit area | SIS
• Ministry of manpower announces jobs needed for new Suez Canal project | SIS
• Finance minister: “Real Estate” tax amendments in favor of low-income people | SIS
• Agriculture minister gives Toshka investors deadline of three years | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Op-ed: Deceptive stability (in Egypt) | Al-Ahram Weekly
• Op-ed: Egypt’s economy is entering a phase of recovery due to economic reforms | Marcopolis

SOCIETY & MEDIA

NCHR: Human Rights Watch report is deliberately misleading
The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) said in a statement Friday that remarks made in a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the dispersal of the pro-Morsi Raba’a al-Adeweya and Nahda sit-ins last year violate the professional and ethical standards of research. The statement described the HRW report as “low in professionalism” and “deliberately misleading”. It added, “Although the NCHR does not issue comments on reports released by organizations working in the same field, we decided to respond to the report’s obvious fallacies and presumptions.” NCHR also suggested that HRW had disregarded the testimony of a reporter they deem to be pivotal, regarding the killing of a police officer that allegedly triggered an exchange of fire. NCHR also accused HRW of being biased towards the Muslim Brotherhood, saying it had used selective testimony from the same reporter that did not blame the Islamist group. [Mada Masr, EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic), 8/22/2014]

Also of Interest:

• Abu Zaabal detainees issue statement denouncing inhumane conditions | Mada Masr
• Doctors’ Syndicate to take action against non-payment of dues | DNE
• South Sinai deadly buses collision leaves 38 killed, 41 injured | Ahram Online, DNE, Reuters, Mada Masr, Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
• PM offers condolences over victims of Sharm al-Sheikh bus crash | SIS, EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic)
• Mahlab and Zazou discuss Sharm al-Sheikh bus crash | Shorouk (Arabic)
• 100,000 housing units to be built for average-income people | SIS
• Misr-Iran textile workers go on strike | Aswat Masriya
• Culture, planning ministers call for opening national library and archives, Nasser museum | SIS
• Egyptian cleric sparks outrage by saying that men are allowed to spy on women in the shower | The Guardian
• Morsi supporters march in Beheira to condemn electricity cuts | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Security alert in Beheira in anticipation of pro-Morsi protests | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Security alert in Kafr al-Sheikh in preparation for Brotherhood protests | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Security alert in Helwan in response to Brotherhood protests | AMAY (Arabic)

SECURITY

Three electric transformers attacked in Minya
Unknown assailants set fire to three electric transformers in the Upper Egypt governorate of Minya, Al-Ahram reported. Eyewitnesses said the attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the transformers but failed to cause any significant damage. Police suspect members of the Muslim Brotherhood are behind the attack. [Ahram Online, 8/21/2014]

One killed, 16 arrested in North Sinai
Military Spokesman Mohamed Samir said that Egypt’s armed forces killed a terrorist in a fire exchange in North Sinai on Thursday. Armed forces also arrested 16 militants, seized several vehicles without license plates, and destroyed the openings of five tunnels in Rafah. Meanwhile, over the past three days, border guards destroyed three tunnels and prevented 12 Palestinians from illegally entering Egypt. According to a Reuters report, however, many smuggling conduits from Gaza into Egypt have skirted detection. This has allowed transports of weapons, building materials, medicine and food to continue to and from the small, coastal territory that is subject to blockade by both Israel and Egypt, tunnel operators say and Egyptian security sources acknowledge.  [SIS, EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic), 8/22/2014]

Also of Interest:

• Security forces intensify presence in Alexandria to secure police installations | EGYNews (Arabic), Shorouk (Arabic)
• Members of terrorist cell with alleged ties to Brotherhood arrested in Suez | EGYNews (Arabic), Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
• Security forces launch crackdown on apartments and residential areas in search of fugitives in al-Arish | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Security intensified in Suez to secure borders | Shorouk (Arabic)
• Security forces raided Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis hideout in al-Arish | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)

INTERNATIONAL

Palestinian president Abbas to arrive in Egypt for talks with Sisi on Gaza Crisis
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday to discuss the latest developments in Cairo’s endeavors to finalize a Palestinian-Israeli ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, MENA reported. Abbas is scheduled to arrive in Egypt Friday night. The bilateral meeting will also discuss the planned conference on the reconstruction of the war-torn coastal enclave, expected to be held in Cairo by September, Gamal al-Shobky, the Palestinian Arab League permanent representative, had previously announced. Prior to his scheduled return to Egypt, Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal held a second day of talks in Qatar on Friday, a Palestinian source told AFP. The meeting – hosted by Qatar’s emir – was a “follow up” to Thursday’s talks, which lasted nearly three hours, the source said on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, Mohamed Sabih, Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories in the Arab League denied that there were demands within the Palestinian faction to replace Egypt as a mediator, saying that there is a consensus on the importance of Egypt’s role in the negotiations. With Egyptian efforts to end the Gaza war collapsing, however, the United States, Britain, France and Germany are discussing a possible Security Council resolution calling for a sustainable cease-fire and an international monitoring mission to ensure its implementation. [Ahram Online, EGYNews (Arabic), 8/22/2014]

Also of Interest:

• Tripartite talks over Ethiopia’s dam to resume | Aswat Masriya
• Second Arab Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction convenes in Sharm al-Sheikh | SIS
• Source: Russia may deliver missiles to Egypt instead of Syria | EGYNews (Arabic), Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
• Preparations completed for ministerial meeting of Libya’s neighbors | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)
• Algerian government agrees to appointment of new Egyptian ambassador | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)
• Libya ready to provide safety guarantees to Tunisia and Egypt for resumption of flights | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)
• Sudanese FM: opening of Qustul port is historic moment in Egypt-Sudan relations | AMAY (Arabic)