Egypt witnessed a series of small-scale bombings on Thursday, while one man was killed and several injured in Haram Street as the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies took to the streets in a “Day of Rage,” marking one year since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. 
POLITICS

Mahlab forms committee to demarcate governorate borders
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab formed a committee on Wednesday tasked with modifying the borders of Egypt’s governorates, as proposed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his presidential campaign. The committee will be headed by Local Development Minister Adel Labib and will include the Chairman of the General Organization for Urban Planning, the Director of the National Center for the State Land Utilization, the Director of the Military Survey and the Chairman of the General Survey Organization. It will be tasked with developing the proposed presidential decree regarding the division of governorates and the process of launching a new governorate and moving areas from one governorate to another. [Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, SIS, 7/2/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Cabinet approves new property tax law | Mada Masr
  • Tamarod submits papers to form political party | EGYNews (Arabic)
  • Salafi Da’wa in Matruh stresses distance from political involvement | DNE
  • PM meets state and private newspaper editors-in-chief | SIS
  • Mahlab announces launch of project to provide jobs for youth | Shorouk (Arabic)
  • Ministry of interior to launch campaign to combat tax evasion | Shorouk (Arabic)
  • Mahlab says government is determined to continue economic and legislative reforms | AMAY (Arabic)
  • Guardians of the Revolution withdraws from alliance with Shafik’s National Movement | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

COURTS

Three Morsi backers sentenced to five to ten years over 2013 tramway torching
Cairo Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced two supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi to ten years, a third to five years and acquitted two others on charges of burning a Heliopolis tramway during protests in November 2013. The court ruled that the defendants must pay EGP 635,000 ($88,800), the equivalent to the value of properties they were found guilty of damaging. [Egypt Independent, 7/3/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Damietta court releases three Brotherhood members | EGYNews (Arabic)

ECONOMY
Egypt starts implementing capital gains tax
Egypt started implementing a new capital gains tax on Wednesday in a bid to increase the country’s sources of revenue following more than three years of economic and political turmoil. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi passed the law on Tuesday, imposing a 10 percent tax on capital gains and stock dividends. The finance ministry had initially set an annual tax-free limit of EGP 10,000 ($1,400) on cash dividend payments for individual residents in Egypt but the tax was watered down last month after news of it caused the stock market to record its biggest daily drop in almost a year. [Reuters, 7/3/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Egypt’s Suez Canal sees highest revenues since opening | Ahram Online
  • Egypt business activity expands in June, PMI hits 6-month high | Reuters
  • Egypt finalizing unified telecoms licence after missing launch date | Reuters
  • PM: Microbus tariff will go up to 6 percent | Egypt Independent
  • Egyptian stocks falter as Sawiris ruling, bourse tax, spook investors | Ahram Online
  • Egypt to raise energy prices “within days” – minister | Reuters, Mada Masr

SOCIETY & MEDIA

One killed and several injured in protests marking anniversary of Morsi’s ouster
At least one man was killed and several injured in Haram Street as the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies took to the streets in a “Day of Rage,” marking one year since the  ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. Security forces clashed with protesters as they dispersed the march in Giza’s Haram Street, as well as in Suez and Alexandria. Several protesters were arrested in Alexandria on charges of violating the protest law. In Cairo, security forces closed off Tahrir Square in anticipation of the protests. A security official told state news agency MENA that police and army units have sealed off Tahrir Square using armored vehicles and barricades. Explosives experts searched the area for bombs, the official said. [Egypt Independent, Shorouk (Arabic), AMAY (Arabic), 7/3/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Protesters riot outside Qena General Hospital | Shorouk (Arabic)
  • ECCR releases statement condemning Ministry of Education | DNE
  • Mahlab to urge taxi drivers not to raise fares | AMAY (Arabic)
  • Fact finding committee to visit Qanater prison | AMAY (Arabic)
  • Mahlab requires hospitals to provide free emergency treatment for 48 hours | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)
  • 1651 labor protests so far in 2014, reports local NGO | Mada Masr

SECURITY

Bombs explode on anniversary of Morsi’s ouster
On Thursday, Egypt witnessed a series of small-scale bombings on the day that marks the one-year anniversary of former president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster. Two people were killed when a makeshift bomb blew up in the village of Kerdasa near Cairo. The bomb, which detonated almost an hour after dawn in Kerdasa, killed a man who was suspected to have been carrying it, while a second suspect injured from the bombing died after his arrest Thursday morning. Hours before the Kerdasa bombing, two bombs went off in Giza’s Imbaba neighborhood. The bombs, which went off minutes apart and targeted police outposts in the neighborhood, caused no injuries.  An improvised bomb also exploded during the early hours of Thursday morning near the Air Force hospital in Cairo’s Abbasiya district. According to Al-Ahram, the bomb was planted in a car parked near the hospital. The car was allegedly driven by two young men, suspected to be Muslim Brotherhood members, according to preliminary investigations. One of the men was injured in the blast and is currently being investigated by National Security while the other fled. Early on Thursday MENA reported another explosion at an Alexandria police station. Security sources later denied the reports, saying that it was due to a short circuit. Security sources also denied reports of an explosion in Sharm al-Sheikh. [Aswat Masriya, DNE, Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, AP, AMAY (Arabic), 7/3/2014]

Pro-Morsi alliance spokesman arrested
Magdy Qorqor, a prominent Islamist leader and spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood-led National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), was arrested on Monday in east Cairo. Lawyer of the pro-Morsi Istiqlal Party Ashraf Omran told Aswat Masriya that security forces raided Qorqor’s house in Nasr City and arrested him. Omran added that both the charges against Qorqor and where he is being held are still unknown. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, Mada Masr, 7/2/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Army destroys tunnels, arrests ‘intruders’ and captures marijuana | DNE
  • Police officer implicated in escape attempt of Rafah Massacre suspect | Egypt Independent
  • Brotherhood members arrested in Qena accused of inciting violence | EGYNews (Arabic)
  • Mahlab: government committed to rooting out terrorism | Ahram Gateway (Arabic)

INTERNATIONAL

“Catastrophic decline in human rights” after Morsi’s ouster, says Amnesty
Amnesty International announced Thursday that widespread arrests, deaths in detention, “harrowing” accounts of torture and forced disappearances signal a “catastrophic decline” in human rights during the year after Mohamed Morsi’s ouster. The statement notes that at least 16,000 people have been detained, torture and ill-treatment remain “unabated,” and fair trial standards are routinely flouted. Amnesty also cited WikiThawra, an initiative run by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, saying that at least 80 people died have died in custody over the past year and more than 40,000 were detained or indicted between July 2013 and mid-May 2014. Amnesty also denounced Egypt’s “grossly unfair trials,” saying that Egypt’s criminal justice system has recommended the death penalty for 1,247 men and upheld death sentences against 247 individuals since January 2014. [Aswat Masriya, DNE, 7/3/2014]

Tony Blair says he is not a “formal adviser” to Sisi  
In response to an article published by The Guardian, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that he is “not a formal adviser” to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to The Guardian, Blair agreed to advise Sisi on economic reform as part of a program funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to deliver huge “business opportunities.” The Guardian reported that the UAE taskforce is being run by the management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz and Co, now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers, to attract investment into Egypt’s crisis-ridden economy at a forthcoming Egypt donors’ conference sponsored by the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Blair’s office, however, said that “he has simply said that it is vital for Egypt, the region and the world that the new president and his government succeed in reforming their country and taking it to a better future and that the international community supports them in doing so.” The statement denied any interest in “business opportunities” and said that neither Blair nor his organizations have any commercial or business interests in Egypt. [Aswat Masriya, 7/2/2014]

Also of Interest:

  • Egyptian FM condemns kidnapping, killing of Palestinian teen | Ahram Online, SIS
  • Turkish foreign ministry condemns Ittihadiya bombings | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)