In his first television interview since his installment as Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour rejected claims that the Mubarak regime is making a comeback after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in July.

GOVERNMENT & OPPOSITION

Police state not coming back, says Egypt’s interim president
In his first television interview since his installment as Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour rejected claims that the Mubarak regime is making a comeback after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in July. Mansour added that the roadmap will be accomplished despite internal and foreign efforts to disrupt it. He said that a plan for a return to civilian government after the army’s removal of Morsi was on track despite “challenges” and that emergency law should be lifted soon. Mansour said that reconciliation and holding perpetrators of violence accountable are not mutually exclusive, saying that the rule of law will be applied equally to all. He also said that the matter of disbanding the Brotherhood is in the hands of the judiciary. [Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya, EGYNews (Arabic), Reuters, Mada Masr, SIS, 9/3/2013]

Muslim Brotherhood association has no legal standing: Minister
Egypt’s minister of social solidarity, Ahmed al-Borai, said on Tuesday that the Muslim Brotherhood association, formed in March 2013 by the political group, has no legal standing. The minister said during a press conference on Tuesday that the prosecution had accused the Brotherhood of possessing firearms at its Cairo headquarters. The ministry, which is responsible for registering non-governmental organizations and associations, sent several letters to the chairman of the Brotherhood NGO requesting explanations but has not received an answer. [Ahram Online, 9/3/2013]

Also of Interest:
Jama’a al-Islamiya: anti-Morsi judicial decisions threaten public peace | Egypt Independent
Pro-Morsi alliance criticizes Egypt’s authorities sixty days after ouster | Ahram Online
Fact Finding Committee to investigate terrorist crimes SIS
Single Member Electoral System is a disaster: ESDP head | DNE, Ahram Online
NSF to run in Egypt’s parliamentary elections: Front spokesman | Ahram Online
Egypt’s Interior Minister removes prison official | AP, Ahram Online, Egypt Independent Ahram (Arabic)

COURTS & CONSTITUTION

Nour Party to participate in Constituent Assembly
Following internal deliberations, the Salafi Nour Party announced it would participate in the committee of fifty members who will finalize an amended draft to the constitution. Before deliberating, the party said it would consider suggestions by other Islamist groups that had urged the party to withdraw. The party criticized the committee’s undemocratic selection process, in which candidates were chosen by the interim president. However, the party said greater dialogue and collaboration is one the major incentives behind its decision to participate. The party maintains that due to institutional influences over the constitutional committee, without its participation the results would be detrimental to Egyptians. The Nour Party objects to the removal of Article 219, detailing the principles and sources of Sharia law from the new draft constitution. Meanwhile, presidential advisor for constitutional affairs, Ali Awad, said on Tuesday that the Egyptian presidency has no intention of rendering the constitutional committee immune from potential court verdicts that may lead to its dissolution. [Ahram Online, EGYNews (Arabic), Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, 9/4/2013]

Morsi-era Minya governor imprisoned for fifteen days
Emergency Supreme State Security Court on Tuesday sentenced Morsi-era Minya governor Mustafa Eissa to fifteen days in prison, pending ongoing investigation, on charges of attempting to overthrow the government and incitement of violence. Brotherhood member Ahmed Shazly Mohamed Hamed was arrested in Suez on Wednesday. Khaled Temras, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) official in charge of economic committee in Beni Suef, FJP member Khaled Shebl Wahba who is head of planning and following-up of Beba educational department, Ragab Ahmed Hassan, an agricultural engineer, and Hassan Ramadan Hassan, a member of appeal committee at the Public Tax Authority, were also arrested on Wednesday. In Qena, Brotherhood leaders Mohamed Youssef, a former FJP member of parliament, and Islam Mohamed Abdel Meguid, were detained fifteen days pending investigation on charges of inciting violence. Brotherhood lawyer Khalaf Bayoumi has also been detained fifteen days pending investigation in Alexandria. An Egyptian military court on Tuesday sentenced a Muslim Brotherhood member to life in prison for violence targeting the army in the port city of Suez last month. Forty-eight other members received sentences of between five to fifteen years in prison, while twelve others were acquitted on the same charges. Earlier reports had indicated that eleven Brotherhood members were sentenced to life. Meanwhile, eighteen women detained during the Fath mosque incident were released Tuesday. The Bab al-Share’a prosecutor’s office ordered their release pending further investigation while the men who were arrested have yet to be released. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, EGYNews (Arabic), Aswat Masriya, Reuters, DNE, 9/4/2013]

Former prosecutor to be interrogated over installing listening devices
The Cairo Appeal Court ordered Judge Mohamed Sherine Fahmy to investigate charges leveled against former Public Prosecutor Talaat Abdallah and his former deputy Hassan Yassin for installing cameras and listening devices in their offices. Public Prosecutor Hisham Barakat earlier filed a report to the Supreme Judiciary Council against Abdallah and Yassin after discovering listening devices installed illegally in his office. The report urged an investigation to identify who installed them as well as the obtaining the secret recordings which took place inside the office. [Egypt Independent, 9/4/2013]

Also of interest:
Twenty questions Morsi refused to answer during interrogation | Egypt Independent

ECONOMY

Egypt says prepared to repay Qatari loan in days if necessary
Egypt is prepared to repay within days $2 billion (LE1.28 billion ) that Qatar deposited with Egypt’s central bank in May if talks to convert the funds into bonds do not succeed, a central bank official said on Wednesday. [Ahram Online, 9/4/2013]

Egypt to auction $1.3 billion for vital imports
The Central Bank of Egypt will conduct its largest foreign exchange auction yet, selling $1.3 billion to banks with clients who need U.S. dollars to pay for basic imports like wheat, oil, meat and beans. It is the third auction of its kind, which is also directed at banks whose clients need dollars to import raw industrial materials and pharmaceuticals. The first auction in April released $600 million and a second in May released $800 million.[AP, 9/4/2013]

Also of Interest:
Agreement with IMF to mechanize customs authorities | SIS
Egypt to revive cash transfer program to help poor families | Ahram Online
Egypt allocates EGP3 billion for industrial infrastructure | Ahram Online
Abdel-Nour: Complexes for factories to set up in twenty governorates | SIS
Petroleum Minister: EGP407 million to increase production of gasoline 92 | SIS
Euromoney Conference to debate how to accelerate Egyptian economy | DNE

SOCIETY & MEDIA

Two months after Morsi’s ouster, thousands protest across Egypt; resumption of railway services postponed
Thousands of supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi staged protests across Egypt on Tuesday against what they describe as the ‘military coup’ that ousted him two months previously. Several thousand people marched in Cairo and Giza, Suez, the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya and Upper Egypt’s Qena, but the mobilization seems to have lost much of its strength. In response, Egypt’s Railway Authority postponed the resumption of thirteen rail services until Wednesday. Trains have been on hold for seventeen days following the forcible dispersals of pro-Morsi sit-ins. On Wednesday, dozens of Brotherhood members organized a protest in front of the US Consulate in Alexandria to denounce the ‘coup’ and the interim government’s roadmap for reconciliation. [Ahram Online, Shorouk (Arabic),  Egypt Independent, 9/4/2013]

Al-Jazeera accuses Egypt of jamming signal
Al-Jazeera has accused the armed forces of interfering with its satellite broadcasting signals in Egypt. The Qatar based news agency, citing a “panel of experts” on Tuesday, claims to have identified four locations where it believes satellite jamming signals are being broadcast from. In a report on its English language channel presenter Sami Zeidan said, “It is clear the common link in all of these locations is the presence of military facilities.” Al-Jazeera also refused to name its correspondent reporting from Cairo via telephone, citing security reasons. [Egypt Independent, DNE, 9/4/2013]

Also of Interest:
Muslim Brotherhood newspaper soldiers on despite Egypt crackdown | Reuters

SECURITY

Drive-by shooting leaves policeman, assailant dead in Egypt’s Aswan
A police officer was killed and three were wounded on Wednesday following a fire exchange with unknown gunmen who tried to trespass a security checkpoint in Aswan, reported the state-owned news agency. Two assailants shot gunfire at the police officers from their car as they encroached the security checkpoint in Aswan’s al-Shotb village, leaving the police sergeant, Ahmed Faragallah, dead and three injured. The attack was carried out by relatives of a man killed earlier in an exchange of fire with police at the checkpoint. [Ahram Online, Reuters, Aswat Masriya, Mada Masr, Egypt Independent, EGYNews (Arabic), 9/4/2013]

Also of Interest:
Security forces intervene in clashes between Morsi supporters, opponents, Alexandria | EGYNews (Arabic)
Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for Jihad | AP

REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Turkish ambassador to return to Egypt
Turkey’s envoy to Egypt, recalled last month after a crackdown on supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, was returning to Cairo on Wednesday, but Egypt said it would not reciprocate until Turkey stopped its “interference.” Spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, Bader Abdel Aty, said Turkey must stop its “hostile stance and interference in Egyptian affairs,” before the Egyptian ambassador is returned to Turkey, state news agency MENA reported. Turkish officials say that diplomatic relations between the two countries were never cut off, and that the ambassador’s return to Cairo comes after consultations with the Turkish government. In addition, Turkey’s main opposition party has said it will send two of its highest-ranking officials to Egypt upon the invitation of the North African country’s interim government. [AP, Reuters, Mada Masr, Egypt Independent, EGYNews (Arabic), Hurriyet, Ahram Online, 9/4/2013]

Also of Interest:
African Union urges Egypt groups to back transition | DNE
Interim president Mansour reiterates Egypt’s rejection of strike on Syria | EGYNews (Arabic)
FM Nabil Fahmy meets unofficial group of ‘Egyptian ambassadors’ | DNE
Russia announces its support for Egyptian security procedures in Sinai | Shorouk (Arabic)
Foreign ministry discusses development | DNE
FM: Internationalizing Egypt’s status quo ruled out | SIS
Interim president to deliver Egypt’s speech before UN General Assembly | Egypt Independent