A judicial panel set up by Egypt's military-backed government backed a legal challenge to the status of the Muslim Brotherhood on Monday, compounding a drive to crush the movement behind the elected president deposed by the army in July.

Suspected Islamists on Sunday shot dead a Coptic Christian man in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula where several extremist groups operate, security sources told AFP.

Egypt's newly formed constitutional committee marginalises the Islamic current, the Nour Party has complained

A Cairo court on Monday ordered that an Islamist television channel be closed permanently, accusing it of attempting to disrupt the unity of Egypt.

An Egyptian judicial panel advised a court to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a legally registered non-governmental organisation on Monday, judicial sources said, presenting a legal challenge to the group as the army-backed government presses a crackdown.

Three Egyptian nationals who had recently arrested in the Gaza Strip have been released, according to Sunday statements made by foreign ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Atty to the German Press Agency.

In a statement on Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood vowed to continue protests despite continued police crackdown almost two months after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsy.

Nageh Ibrahim, former deputy head of the Shura Council of Jamaa al-Islamiya and Islamic scholar, said the Muslim Brotherhood committed several errors causing the group to lose power. The most important of these errors according to Ibrahim, was dealing with the people, with the mentality of the group and putting a priority to religious loyalty above consensus among all spectrums of society .

The wholesale looting and burning of Christian buildings in Egypt is not what grieves one Egyptian Christian leader the most. For him, the murder of a 10-year-old girl, gunned down by a Muslim militant on her way home from a Bible study, is the most grievous kind of wound inflicted by the conflict in his country.

Another Gulf emir praises Egypt’s military for trying to destroy Muslim Brotherhood. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan praised Sunday the role of Egyptian Army in the “critical and complicated” conditions of the country, and its ability to restore order.

Security forces have arrested controversial Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagy, state media reported Thursday. Beltagy was also arrested with former Manpower Ministry Khaled al-Azhar in Giza. Ahmed Helmy, assistant Interior Minister for Public Security confirmed the reports, adding that other leading figures within the Muslim Brotherhood were also captured.

Supporters of Egypt’s deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi vowed more rallies and called for marches on Friday despite a harsh police crackdown on their movement.

A source from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said most Brotherhood figures’ assets are being invested outside the bank and that no cash from the group members is being held at local banks.

The Interior Ministry said on Thursday that it is fully ready to firmly face any attempts against public security or encroachment on government, police or religious installations, using live ammunition in accordance to its right to self-defense.

The pro-Morsi Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called for peaceful protests on Friday dubbed "the people take back their revolution."

Expatriate Copts in Western capitals launched campaigns to draw attention to the violence of the Muslim Brotherhood and to expose it as a terrorist organization, and to support the Egyptian army, who they say is "fighting a war on terror" launched by pro-Morsy supporters against the Egyptian people at large.

Egypt should not ban the Muslim Brotherhood or exclude it from politics after the army's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the interim prime minister said on Tuesday, reversing his previous stated view.

Five members of Hamas were arrested in northern Sinai recently for involvement in the killing of 25 Egyptian policemen, Arab media reported on Wednesday.

The Coptic Orthodox Church Sacred Council passed a law on Sunday governing local church board elections.

Security forces in North Sinai have arrested 12 people, including one American, who are suspected of being involved in an explosion that took place near al-Sheikh Zuwaid police station on Tuesday.

Continuing the mass arrest campaign against anti-coup Egyptians in recent weeks, on Tuesday night security services arrested at least 64 members and sons of members of the Muslim Brotherhood in a number of Egyptian governorates.