An Egyptian court postponed on Tuesday issuing a final ruling over a death sentence recommendation for former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood leaders in a case related to a 2011 mass jail break. The judge said the case was postponed to June 16. Judge Shaaban al-Shami said the court received the mufti’s opinion on Tuesday morning and needed time to discuss it. The court also postponed to June 16 issuing a final ruling in a separate case for Brotherhood leader Khairat al-Shater and fifteen others for conspiring with foreign militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah against Egypt. [Ahram Online, DNE, Egypt Independent, Reuters, Aswat Masriya, Mada Masr, 6/2/2015]

POLITICS

Sisi’s call for a ‘joint electoral list’ receives chilly response
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s suggestion that Egypt’s mainstream political parties join the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections as a single electoral bloc is not expected to see much success. Gaber al-Shehabi, chairman of the Geel Party, indicated that this initiative violates the principle of political competitiveness and strips parliament of any diversity of opinions. Ahmed Fawzi, spokesman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, said that because seats allocated to party lists make up only 17 percent of the parliament, joining an electoral list would not “lead to any positive impact on parliament.” Free Egyptians party spokesman Wagih Shehab said parties misunderstood Sisi’s call. “The president simply wanted political parties to coordinate during the elections, not to join unified electoral lists,” he said. [Ahram Online, 6/2/2015]

Also of Interest

• Egyptian political parties to announce protest law petition results | Ahram Online
• Dismissed Wafd Party leaders insist on demands | Egypt Independent
• Ministry of Transitional Justice drafts law on resettling Nubians | Cairo Post
• Government has no intention to delay parliamentary elections says Minister | Cairo Post

COURTS

Egypt says uncovers Brotherhood plot, arrests two leading members
Egyptian security services arrested two Muslim Brotherhood leaders Mahmoud Ghozlan and Abdel Rahman al-Barr late on Monday, security sources said. They were referred to State Security prosecution shortly after their arrests, a security source said, adding that they will be investigated for involvement in inciting violence, rioting, and protesting. Their arrests followed an announcement that security forces had disrupted a Brotherhood cell which authorities said was gathering intelligence about state institutions and sending it abroad to foreign parties. Ghozlan was a Brotherhood spokesman and a member of the group’s highest office, the Guidance Bureau, while Barr, also a member of the Guidance Bureau, was seen as the Brotherhood’s top religious authority. A Brotherhood spokesman, Mohamed Montassir, described the latest arrests on his Facebook page as a “failed attempt …. to disrupt the revolutionaries across the nation.” [DNE, Reuters, AP, Aswat Masriya, 6/1/2015]

Court accepts reparations lawsuit filed by police brutality victim Khaled Said’s family
Egypt’s prosecution has referred to court a lawsuit filed by the family of Egypt’s most famous police brutality victim Khaled Said demanding reparations amounting to 5 billion Egyptian pounds from Egypt’s Interior Ministry. The Alexandria Criminal Court has set June 3 for the trial’s first session. The family’s lawyer Mahmoud Afifi told Al-Ahram that the lawsuit aimed to bring the case back into the public sphere, assuring that any money won in the case would be donated. We expect the process to take a while,” Said’s mother Laila Marzouk told Daily News Egypt. She added that the family filed a lawsuit against the two convicted policemen and former interior minister Habib al-Adly. [Ahram Online, DNE, 6/2/2015]

Also of Interest

• How Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first elected president, ended up on death row | The Guardian
• Court orders retrial of 120 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members | DNE
• AFTE manager’s brother detained for fifteen days | DNE
• Detention renewed for prominent Al-Azhar cleric | DNE
• Imprisoned 16-year-old passes exams from jail | DNE
• Two policemen tried on sexual assault charges | DNE
• Top prosecutor refers Bedaya movement case to state security prosecution | Egypt Independent
• Judges recommend health-related release for Mubarak-era business tycoon | Egypt Independent

ECONOMY

HSBC: Egypt’s GDP to grow 5.6 percent annually between 2020 and 2030
Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) and exports are projected to grow, boosted by increasing foreign investment, HSBC Bank Egypt said in a report. HSBC said Egypt’s GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 5.6 percent annually from 2020 to 2030. The figure is lower than the government’s projections, which estimate annual GDP growth at 6 percent. In its Trade Forecast Report, HSBC said Egypt’s growth forecasts have improved significantly over the last year due to economic reforms. HSBC said, “If this commitment [to reform] is sustained and political stability continues, then growth should continue to accelerate, helped by continued GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and Western support.” HSBC also said it is considering financing Egyptian projects in the energy, infrastructure, petrochemicals, and construction investments sectors. [DNE, Cairo Post, 6/1/2015]

Also of Interest

• Egypt’s external debt decreases to $39 billion at end of March | Egypt Independent, Aswat Masriya, Ahram Online
• Special investment law for economic zones to be issued in week: Suez Canal | Cairo Post
• Egypt’s petroleum imports up 95 percent in March | Ahram Online

SOCIETY & MEDIA

FIDH condemns sentencing of Mahienour al-Masry and other activists, calls for their release
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has issued a statement on its webpage, strongly condemning the sentencing and detention of well-known Egyptian lawyer and human rights activist, Mahienour al-Masry, who had been sentenced to fifteen months in prison together with nine other defendants over charges of assaulting al-Raml police station in Alexandria in March 2013. In its statement, the Observatory called upon the Egyptian authorities to immediately release the imprisoned activists and to “drop all charges against them as they are clearly aimed at hindering their peaceful human rights activities,” adding that this particular case “is an illustration of a wider trend of repression against human rights defenders in Egypt,” in particular, the restrictive Protest Law. [Egypt Independent, 6/2/2015]

Egypt bars rights activist from traveling to Germany
An Egyptian rights activist says security officials at Cairo airport prevented him from traveling to Germany where he was to speak before the parliament there about human rights violations in Egypt. The decision Tuesday to bar Mohamed Lotfy, a former Amnesty International researcher who co-founded the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, comes on the same day Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi makes his first official visit to Germany. The German parliament’s speaker cancelled a meeting with Sisi over what he called pervasive human rights abuses in Egypt. [Cairo Post, 6/2/2015]

Also of Interest

• Egypt journalists denounce colleague’s jail sentence | Ahram Online , DNE
• Egypt TV presenter Islam al-Beheiry criticizes ‘blasphemy’ verdict | Ahram Online
• Rights advocates say NCHR report balanced | Egypt Independent

SECURITY