From the Daily Star Egypt…

Al-Azhar mosque is expected to be the scene of a mass demo against Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni over his recent veil remarks, tomorrow following the Friday prayers. Both the Muslim Brothers and the Islamist-leaning Labor Party supporters are expected to be present and have a leading role.

Already thousands of Muslim Brothers supporters have demonstrated [...]

Miscellaneous photos by Amr Abdallah…

I received the following report from journalist Jano Charbel, who’s been monitoring the General Labor Union elections.
Indirect General Trade Union Elections & Calls for the Independence of the Egyptian Workers’ Movement
The representatives of Egypt’s 23 almighty general trade unions were determined on November 20 - through indirect elections in eight of these unions, and through [...]

AP report by Nadia Abou El-Magd…
Muslim scholars speak out against female genital mutilation in rare conference
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Top Muslim scholars from around the world, including conservative clerics from Egypt and Africa, spoke out Wednesday against female genital mutilation at a rare high-level conference on the age-old practice, though some remained indecisive over whether [...]

Blogger Asad of Sharqiyya has the latest on detained blogger Rami Siyam, a.k.a Ayoub…
Ayoub was released in the early hours of the morning, after bloggers and political activists in Sharqiyya threatened to march on State Security’s office in Zagazig, where Ayoub was to be interrogated today.
كفارة يا أيــوب
UPDATE: Here’s an AP report on Ayoub’s [...]

Bad news from HRINFO…

I received news that detained blogger Ayoub should have been released this morning after his lawyer and family submitted all the requested legal papers. The Belbeis Prosecutor’s office itself cleared Ayoub of any charges, and ordered his release.
However, instead of his immediate release, Ayoub is to spend the night at the Belbeis Police Station, to [...]

I received this letter from a sister of an Islamist detainee, who’s been incarcerated since 1993…

اعتقل أخي عبد المنعم جمال الدين عبد المنعم منيب في 21/2/1993 و كان يعمل صحفي بالقطعة بجريدة الشعب و قدم لمحاكمه عسكرية و برئته في 30/10/1993 وكان وقتها محبوس بسجن شديد الحراسة بطره.و منعت عنه الزيارة بل عن السجن كله [...]

Tune in to Al-Jazeera now. Civil war is knocking on the door…
UPDATE: Simon Assaf writes on the impact of the assassination.

Though I watched Mubarak’s speech to the People’s Assembly and Shoura Council live on TV, the day before yesterday, I didn’t bother to post about it as it was extremely boring and had no reform “surprises.”

But here’s an AP report by journalist and friend Nadia Abou El-Magd
Mubarak: Amend constitution article criticized as opening way for [...]

Terrible…
UNRWA PRESS RELEASE
18 November 2006
Two Children Shot Inside UNRWA School
Gaza – This Saturday afternoon two schoolchildren were shot and wounded inside UNRWA’s Beit Lahia Elementary School in the northern Gaza Strip.
At 15:10 hrs, while sitting at his desk in a first grade classroom, Ahmed Isam Abdel-Aziz, seven years old, was struck by a bullet [...]

Dr. Hassan el-Hayawan, an academic with the Muslim Brotherhood released Wednesday from extended detention, died last night of a heart attack.

توفي ليلة أمس الدكتور حسن الحيوان، القيادي بجماعة الاخوان المسلمين، وذلك بعد أيام قليلة من اطلاق سراحه من سجون مبارك

UPDATE: Photos of the funeral could be found here…

UPDATE: Here’s an AP report by Nadia Abou [...]

Egyptian blogger Rami Siyam, a.k.a. Ayoub, is currently in Qasr el-Nil Police Station, and will be transferred to Belbeis Prosecutor’s office in the Sharqiya Governorate.
Ayoub and and a number of bloggers were leaving Sharqawi’s place around 4 am, when police rounded them up, and took them to the notorious Qasr el-Nil Police Station. They were [...]

Ursula reviews Columbian artist Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib exhibition…