News features

Student union elections present litmus test for campus politics

Cairo University students raising placards and banners calling for constitutional amendments and Emergency Law lift in a rally on campus, April 6, 2010. A wave of rallies gathered up in Egyptian universities on memory of 6 April Movement launch. Strict security has been in place.
31 Mar 2011
Student elections around Egypt are underway for the first time in a free and unhindered way.  Hopes that these elections would usher in a new era of active university politics were dashed by low voter turnout and the reinstatement of...
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Egyptians grapple with political overhaul

المئات من طلاب كلية الطب بجامعة المنصورة يواصلون اعتصامهم لليوم الثالث على التوالي، داخل مقر الكلية، المنصورة، الدقهلية، 28 مارس 2011، احتجاجا علي عدم تنفيذ مطالبهم والتي تتمثل في معاملة الطلاب بطريقة محترمة، ومشاركتهم في وضع جداول الامتحانات، وتعديل المناهج الحالية لمناهج متطورة، والحصول علي المكافآت المستحقة لطلاب المتفوقين من الثانوية العامة، والإعلان عن النتيجة بشكل تفصيلي، والتركيز علي الجانب العملي في الدراسة.
30 Mar 2011
Egypt's politics have been transformed since Hosni Mubarak was toppled on 11 February but the prospect of elections may put remnants of his ruling party and an established Islamist group in the driving seat for now. Torn between the...
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Egypt clerics protest at graft in religious bodies

جانب من المسيرة الاحتجاجية لشيوخ الأزهر، القاهرة، 27 فبراير 2011. نظم شيوخ وأئمة الأزهر الشريف مسيرة احتجاجية من جامع الأزهر، ومروراً بمشيخة الأزهر إلى المجلس الأعلى للقوات المسلحة مطالبين بإلغاء وزارة الأوقاف ودمجها في الأزهر الشريف، والمطالبة بتعيين شيخ الأزهر عن طريق الانتخاب، واستقلال الأزهر كمؤسسة عن الحكومة.
27 Mar 2011
Egyptian clerics and employees of state Islamic religious bodies are demanding an end to what they say is rampant corruption by senior officials who manage religious endowments. No official figures exist for the sums donated to Egypt's...
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What's left of Egypt's Left

A group of Tagammu Party leaders during a meeting that took place at the Socialist Renewal Movement headquarters after they were denied entry to the party’s headquarters, 3 December, 2010. Party leaders said they had requested permission from the party secretary to hold the meeting inside the party headquarters but that the headquarters was closed off and surrounded by security forces. During the meeting, some Party leaders demanded the withdrawal of confidence from Dr. Rifaat al-Said in protest against his decision to compete in the run-off vote despite what they described as the rigging that took place in the first round.
26 Mar 2011
Gehan Shaaban has come a long way since her youthful days as a radical Trotskyite student. In the early 1990s she joined forces with a small group of far left political activists in Egypt and founded an organization called the...
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Cairo University student elections begin amid charged atmosphere

25 Mar 2011
Cairo University is littered with campaign material, organizing committees and general election paraphernalia as the first student union elections since the revolution begin. The site is a new one for many of the students at this campus,...
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Political freedom, competition drives rifts between Muslim Brotherhood factions

During a press conference, Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Badi  announces the Muslim Brotherhood will participate in the upcoming November Parliamentary elections, and that “Islam is the solution” is their official campaign slogan, Brotherhood Guidance Office , al-Manial district, Giza, 9 October, 2010. Badi   said the decision was made in full coordination with the parties and all political forces, adding the group will compete for 30 percent of the seats in parliament after coordination with political parties. The decision came following calls by 20 Brotherhood leaders to boycott the parliamentary elections.
24 Mar 2011
As the Muslim Brotherhood prepares to unveil a revised party platform, internal splits along generational and ideological lines seem on the rise as disenchanted members seek to form their own parties and young members demand more say in...
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Election monitors celebrate the end of their helplessness

20 Mar 2011
Counting votes after 14 hours of supervising the electoral process, elections monitors in Gamal Abdel Nasser School in Dokki were elated at having been able to successfully guarantee the integrity of the process for the first time in their...
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Fallen faces of the uprising: Ziyad Bakir

Mirette Bakir, sister of missing protester, Ziyad Bakir
20 Mar 2011
Seeing him announced as a martyr on television, then receiving anonymous phone calls to say he was alive and well, Ziyad Bakir’s family was tortured by contradictory information about their missing son. All hope came to a devastating...
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Thug life: Pro-Mubarak bullies break their silence

18 Mar 2011
Shokry Abdel Kader and Yasser Ashour are thugs. Of course, when conversing with them, the term itself is carefully avoided, and the two remain reluctant when it comes to confessing to the grislier side of thuggery in the name of toppled...
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Egypt's constitutional referendum: The debate continues

لافتة رافضة للتعديلات الدستورية، معلقة بأحد شوارع مدينة المنصورة، الدقهلية، 16 مارس 2011. اشتعلت حدة الجدل حول الاستفتاء علي التعديلات الدستورية، ما بين مؤيد ومعارض، فمن جانب تقود جماعة الإخوان المسلمين معسكر الموافقة، وتقوم بحشد مؤيديها للتصويت بـــ
17 Mar 2011
With the clock ticking down to the referendum on constitutional amendments slated for Saturday, the pro-democracy movement remains divided on how to vote. While some of the divisions concern legal issues pertaining to how the amendments...
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