An Alexandrian man convicted of murder was hanged on Saturday for the killing of a young man in 2013, becoming the first supporter of former president Mohamed Morsi to be executed in Egypt. Mahmoud Ramadan was executed after exhausting all possible judicial appeals, an interior ministry statement said on Saturday.

POLITICS
Cabinet gives instructions to check state employees’ security status
Al-Masry Al-Youm has obtained an official document issued by the cabinet giving instructions to ministers to perform a security review of all leaders working at the ministries to ensure they are not affiliated with any terrorist groups. Official sources revealed the existence of a list with the names of leaders from the Agriculture Ministry. Some leaders were classified as ‘dangerous elements,’ indicating the risks involved if they resumed work. [Egypt Independent, 3/8/2015]

Law banning dual-nationality Egyptians from parliament ruled unconstitutional
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court decided on Saturday that an article banning dual nationals from running for elections is unconstitutional, deeming another law of the three laws issued to regulate elections as unconstitutional.  Article 8 of the parliamentary elections law states that one of the conditions a parliamentary hopeful must have in order to run for elections is to bear only Egyptian citizenship. Meanwhile, the committee responsible for amending the Election Constituency Division Law seeks to increase the number of seats elected as single candidates from 420 to 440, professor of constitutional law at Ain Shams University Aly Abdel-Aal, a member of the committee told Al-Ahram on Sunday. [Egypt Independent, Ahram Online, DNE, Mada Masr, Aswat Masriya, 3/9/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Sisi says Egypt prepared for March economic conference | Egypt Independent
  • Interior ministry takes part in initiative to boost citizen confidence | Egypt Independent
  • Egypt dodges diplomatic flak over ‘Sisi tapes’ | AFP
  • New minister should consider human rights says Nour Party | DNE
  • Party head demands dismissal of Transitional Justice Minister | Egypt Independent
  • New Egypt Interior Minister makes security appointments | Reuters

COURTS

Egypt carries out first execution on Morsi supporter for murdering youth
An Alexandrian man convicted of murder was hanged on Saturday for the killing of a young man in 2013, becoming the first supporter of former president Mohamed Morsi to be executed in Egypt. Mahmoud Ramadan was executed after exhausting all possible judicial appeals, an interior ministry statement said on Saturday. He was found guilty of “killing a child by stabbing him and throwing him off a roof” according to the court statement. Ramadan, whose body was handed over to his family after the execution, was arrested in July 2013 after a video went viral showing him among a group of men assaulting seemingly young teenagers and throwing two off a high ledge on the roof of a building onto the terrace below. Ramadan’s execution was met with harsh criticism from Egypt’s Islamist entities, among them the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi Front. The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) also condemned the execution, arguing that the verdict was issued without sufficient evidence or legal defense. [Ahram Online, DNE, Reuters, Mada Masr, The Guardian, Aswat Masriya, 3/8/2015]

Court adjourns Al Jazeera journalists’ trial to March 19
A Cairo criminal court adjourned Sunday to March 19 the trial on terrorism-related charges of Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fadel, a Canadian national, and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian national, along with other defendants charged in absentia. The court also fined two eyewitnesses EGP 500 ($66) for failing to attend the session. The journalists say they have been left in “unprecedented legal limbo” after the key witnesses for their prosecution, who are members of the security forces, failed to turn up for cross-examination. [Ahram Online, Reuters, AP, The Guardian, Aswat Masriya, 3/8/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Court date set for Mubarak’s ‘presidential palaces’ retrial | Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya
  • Court adjourns trial to designate April 6 movement a ‘terrorist organization’ | DNE
  • Egypt court postpones Morsi trial over ‘espionage for Qatar’ charges | Egypt Independent, Aswat Masriya
  • Eight members of Egyptian militant group referred to military prosecution | Ahram Online, DNE, Aswat Masriya
  • Shura Council protesters defied state sovereignty: Cairo Criminal Court | DNE
  • Egypt’s prosecutor orders summoning of minister over deadly collision | Aswat Masriya

ECONOMY

Egypt’s economy grew 4.3 percent in second fiscal quarter
According to Egypt’s Planning Minister, Egypt’s economy grew 4.3 percent in the quarter ending in December 2013, compared with 1.4 percent during the same period the previous year. Unemployment was also calculated at 12.9 percent at the end of December, down from 13.4 percent a year earlier. The Minister further added that Egypt’s GDP grew 5.6 percent in the first half of the 2014/15 fiscal year, which began in July, versus 1.2 percent in the year-earlier period. [Amwal Al Ghad, 3/8/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Minister: Egypt targets FDI worth $60 billion over four years | Reuters
  • BP makes second deepwater gas find off Egypt | Reuters
  • Minister: Fuel prices will not increase in 2015/16 | Egypt Independent
  • Chinese company to invest $250 million in Egypt | Egypt Independent
  • Sokhna seaport customs seize illegal, Chinese monitoring devices | Egypt Independent
  • Egypt sets price for shale gas at $5.45 per mmBtu -official | Reuters
  • Businessmen association urges Saudi investors exiting Yemeni market to shift to Egypt | Aswat Masriya

SOCIETY & MEDIA

One killed in fight over Butane gas
One person was killed in a fight to obtain butane gas cylinders in the Daqahliya province on Sunday, as people clashed with a stock owner for allowing street vendors to get their share before other people. A local hurled stones at the owner, but one rock mistakenly hit another local who was standing in line next to his empty cylinder, killing him. Meanwhile, dozens of residents in Kafr al-Sheikh staged a protest outside the municipality council because of the lack of cylinders. They accused employees of selling the cylinders on the black market. In Minya, disputes erupted between citizens and distributors. The price of the cylinders on the black market reached EGP100 in the southern part of the Sohag governorate, compared to EGP75 in the north. The supply department said it has intensified campaigns to stock stores and has arrested one of the owners for selling thirty cylinders on the black market.  [Egypt Independent, 3/9/2015]

Cairo elementary school student dies after beating by teacher
A student died on Sunday after battling injuries sustained when a school teacher beat the child inside a school in Cairo’s Sayeda Zainab neighborhood. The 12-year-old pupil died “after being beaten by a teacher the previous day”, a ministry statement said. Education minister Moheb al-Rafie ordered the temporary closure of the school. The head of Sayeda Zainab prosecution, Ahmed al-Abraq told Aswat Masriya prosecutors had already started an investigation with the teacher three days ago but the accusations he faces are going to change now that the pupil is dead. [Aswat Masriya, 3/8/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Egypt seizes assets of sixteen more Brotherhood members | Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya
  • Minister says International Islamic Relief licenses revoked | Egypt Independent
  • Al Jazeera journalists want their IDs back from Egyptian authorities | DNE
  • Red Sea oil spill detected in Ras Sabeel | Egypt Independent
  • Former Grand Mufti says watching porn leads to atheism | Egypt Independent
  • Egyptian ministry, WFP join forces against child labor | Egypt Independent
  • Official says Egypt has 4,000 illegally-made level railway crossings | Egypt Independent
  • Dar al-Ifta condemns Boko Haram, IS ideology as ‘intellectual poison’ after pledge of allegiance | DNE
  • Women rally women to work in reality for parliamentary success | DNE
  • Menoufiya farmers return to demonstrate in downtown Cairo | DNE
  • Egypt’s International Women’s Day usually celebrated in marches demanding rights | DNE
  • Damanhour students protest poor services, increased fees | Egypt Independent
  • Silence in Egypt over police abuses amid “war on terror” | AP

SECURITY

Seventy suspected militants killed in Sinai over past week
The Egyptian armed forces said Sunday, raids carried out in Sinai in the first week of March have killed seventy militants, and led to the arrest of 118, including two Palestinians, and the destruction of twenty-seven militant hideouts in al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid. According to the military, an AnsarBayt al-Maqdis leader was among the militants killed. Meanwhile, on Monday, three policemen died and three others were injured in a bomb attack on their armored vehicle in Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai. [Ahram Online, DNE, Aswat Masriya, 3/8/2015]

At least five killed as explosions hit Mahalla, Alexandria, Menoufiya
A policeman and an army conscript were killed on Saturday when an explosive device detonated in the central Delta’s city of Mahalla. The policeman had been on guard duty outside Emirates NBD bank near the site of the explosion. A third policeman died on Sunday, at a hospital after both his legs had been amputated above the knee.  The explosion left fifteen others injured. A series of bombings killed one person and injured nine in Alexandria on Sunday. The first blast killed one person and wounded five others outside a Carrefour supermarket, while a bomb blast outside Harambe police station in central Alexandria wounded four more. Security forces disarmed a third bomb device in the vicinity. A fourth bomb went off near the Bab Sharq police station without injuring or killing anyone. An IED detonated early Sunday in the Menoufiya governorate, apparently targeting a Vodafone shop in Shebein al-Koum city. No casualties were reported as a result of the bomb. In the days preceding the Economic Summit, set to start on March 13, bombs have targeted mobile and telecommunications branches, electricity and gas supply units, and a large shopping centre. This, experts say, aims to discourage potential investors, as it marks militants’ shift from their usual attacks on security personnel. [Ahram Online, DNE, Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, Reuters, Aswat Masriya, 3/8/2015]

Also of Interest

INTERNATIONAL

US Congressional delegation meets Sisi, Shoukry, Sobhi
President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi met a US Congress delegation Saturday, including key figures from the House of Representatives’ committees overseeing defense and foreign aid. The congressional delegation was headed  Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), head of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and Kay Granger (R-TX),  Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the State Department and foreign operations. They were accompanied by Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), John R. Carter (R-TX), and nine others. According to a Foreign Ministry press release, Shoukry briefed the delegation on social, political, and economic developments in Egypt. The parties reaffirmed the necessity of the bilateral relationship to advance mutual interests. The Ministry of Defense reported that talks focused on joint military cooperation. Meanwhile, in a statement issued last week, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) called on US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner to invite Sisi to give a speech at Congress. [DNE, 3/7/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Shoukry meets Syrian opposition delegation | DNE
  • More Egyptians arrive home from war-torn Libya|Ahram Online
  • Libya Foreign Minister to visit Egypt on Saturday ahead of Arab League summit | Ahram Online
  • Saad al-Hariri meets Sisi, al-Azhar Grand Imam | DNE, Aswat Masriya, Ahram Online, SIS
  • Egypt criticizes UN annual report | DNE
  • Egypt temporarily reopens Rafah border crossing | Ahram Online, AP, Reuters
  • Egypt elected member of UN Peacebuilding Commission | MENA
  • UN delegation visits Egypt to investigate spread of bird flu | Mada Masr
  • Egypt supports UN political solution in Libya says Foreign Minister | Aswat Masriya
  • Sisi: Egypt to host tripartite summit of EAC, SADC, COMESA | SIS