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MENASource

Feb 8, 2012

Top News: Muslim Brotherhood Condemns Calls for Civil Disobedience Campaign

By Mara Revkin

Muslim Brotherhood secretary-general Mahmoud Hussein condemned calls for a general strike by workers and students on February 11, warning that such actions would threaten Egypt’s future.

MENASource

Feb 7, 2012

Egyptian Sovereignty: A Legitimate Concern or a Thin Veil for Repression?

By Tarek Radwan

US-Egyptian relations have suffered the worst blow since the Camp David Peace Accords were signed in 1979 due to the unrelenting position of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of International Cooperation to pursue the prosecution (or rather, persecution) of individuals working for foreign-funded NGOs in Egypt. Despite the Obama administration’s repeated warnings against […]

MENASource

Feb 7, 2012

Will US-Egypt Relations Rupture Over NGO Probe?

By Mara Revkin

A week before Valentine’s Day, the Egyptian government’s brazen antagonism of American-funded NGOs has proven the old adage: “You can’t buy love,” not even with the 1.3 billion in annual military aid that the United States has lavished on its military.

MENASource

Feb 7, 2012

Top News: Military Moves Up Date of Presidential Election

By Mara Revkin

Under growing pressure for an expedited transfer of power to civilians, the SCAF has agreed to move up the start date for presidential candidate registration to March 10, originally scheduled for April 15.

MENASource

Feb 6, 2012

Top News: Clashes Continue in Cairo after Deadly Soccer Riot

By Mara Revkin

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces resumed near the Interior Ministry building late on February 5 in the fourth day of clashes since a deadly soccer riot in Port Said last week that killed at least 73 people.

MENASource

Feb 6, 2012

Can Egypt Avoid Pakistan’s Fate?

By Michele Dunne and Shuja Nawaz

One year after the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian military is closing down civil society organizations and trying to manipulate the constitution-writing process to serve its narrow interests. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, where the military has also held sway for more than half the country’s existence — for much of that time, with […]

MENASource

Feb 3, 2012

Why Legal Entanglements of an Aging Movie Star and Billionaire Represent Crucial Tests for “New Egypt”

By Kurt Werthmuller

On Thursday, February 2, fallout from the previous day’s violent soccer clashes in Port Said overshadowed reports that Egyptian film star Adel Imam had been sentenced to three months of hard labor for “insulting Islam” throughout his long filmmaking career.  This is the second religious defamation case against an Egyptian public figure in as many […]

MENASource

Feb 2, 2012

The Politics of a Deadly Soccer Riot

By Tarek Radwan

Yesterday’s match between Port Said’s Al-Masry soccer team and its Cairene rival Al-Ahly mutated into a brutal scene that claimed the lives of 74 Egyptians and wounded scores more, according to the Ministry of Health. Many questions surround the factors that provoked the worst outbreak of soccer violence in Egypt’s history and across the spectrum […]

MENASource

Feb 2, 2012

Shura Council Elections See Low Turnout and Voter Apathy

By Salem Mostafa Kamel

The High Electoral Commission (HEC) has announced the final results for the first round of Egypt’s Shura Council (upper house) elections. As expected, Islamist parties swept the elections: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Salafi Nour Party and independent candidates came ahead in all governorates except in Cairo where two female candidates […]

MENASource

Feb 2, 2012

Top News: 74 Killed in Deadly Soccer Riot

By Mara Revkin

Senior officials in Port Said and the Egyptian football association have been sacked in the wake of riots on February 1 at a football match that killed 74 people. The governor of Port Said resigned, while the city’s director of security and head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody.  DEADLY SOCCER RIOT: […]