The Maspero Youth Union, a revolutionary Coptic youth group, has called for a demonstration to take place on Sunday in front of the general prosecutor's office at the Supreme Court to protest a prison sentence given to priest Makarius Boulos of the Mar Girgis Church in El-Marinab, Upper Egypt. Father Boulos was handed a six-month prison sentence on charges of violating construction regulations. His church was found to be a few metres higher than permitted.

Pope Shenouda's health is stable and reassuring, the pope's secretary told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Saturday. Bishop Armia denied reports that the Church is praying for the Pope due to a sharp deterioration in his health. He added that the Church prays daily for the safety of the Church, the pope and all officials in Egypt now.

Al-Masry Al-Youm met with presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who expounded on his criticism of political deals surrounding presidential candidates and his positioning as an Islamist candidate in the map of political support from established parties, particularly Salafi-oriented ones. The paper published its Q&A with the presidential hopeful on Sunday.

Leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood Ali Bateekh stated on Monday that the Brotherhood will not be nominating a candidate for the presidential race and nor will it be backing a candidate belonging to an Islamist party or movement. Bateekh is a member of the Brotherhood's Shura Council, a group responsible for the planning and charting of general policies of the movement.

The Salafi movement will likely support Islamists Hazem Abu Ismail, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh or Mohamed Selim al-Awa for president in the upcoming elections, a party leader told Shabab magazine. The movement will make a final decision on which candidate it will back after the nomination process ends in April, movement spokesperson Abdel Moneim al-Shahhat said in an interview with the magazine, which is published by state-owned Al-Ahram.

Authorities banned 37 Egyptian Copts from flying to Italy en route to Russia, a security source at Cairo International Airport has said. The head of the Italian airline company requested the travel ban because the travelers did not have visas required to access European Union countries, the source said, expressing concerns they would head to Italy and ask for political asylum.

Authorities referred the Salafi NGO Ansar al-Sunnah to investigation by the Public Funds Prosecution over charges of embezzlement and illegally receiving foreign funding, judicial sources told privately owned Al-Tahrir newspaper Tuesday. Last September, police raided 17 NGO offices, including several US-based pro-democracy groups. The government said at the time that the raid was part of wider probe into the massive amounts of illegal funds pouring into the country following the ouster of the former President Hosni Mubarak last year.

Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat al-Shater traveled to Doha on Monday for talks with Qatari officials about recent developments in the region. The visit will last for few days. An informed source who was with Shater at Cairo International Airport said talks “will tackle coordination between Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party on developments in Egypt and the Arab region.”

Salafist MP Mamdouh Ismail of Asala Party stated in parliament's first joint session of the upper and lower house held on Saturday, which deliberates the formation of the country's constituent assembly, that Egypt's constitution should reflect the "Islamist identity" of the nation.

Muslim brotherhood deputy chairman Khairat El-Shater left Cairo for Doha on Monday for a visit that will last several days during which he will meet a number of Qatari officials. El-Shater will discuss both recent developments in Egypt as well as regional affairs.

SalafistNour Party MP Anwar El-Balkimy was allegedly attacked few days ago in the latest reported armed assault on a prominent Egyptian politician. Allegations, however, have subsequently emerged that the MPs facial injuries – which he says he sustained in the attack – were actually the result of a plastic surgery.

A military court has adjourned the case of protester deaths during a mostly Coptic march in October to 13 March, MENA reported on Sunday. The court said that it needs to hear the testimonies of more witnesses. Three soldiers are charged with killing protesters: Mahmoud Abdel Hameed Suliman, 21, Karam Hamed Mohamed, 21, and Mahmoud Gamal Taha, 22.

Senior members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood have reacted angrily to statements by US Senator John McCain in which he thanked the group for its role in lifting the travel ban on indicted foreign NGO workers. At least thirteen foreign nationals, uncluding several Americans, out of 43 people accused of working in Egypt and raising US funds without appropriate government authorisation, departed Egypt on a US military plane on Thursday.

The Salafi Front in Egypt has called on Egyptians to demonstrate in front of Parliament on Monday at 4 pm in remembrance of the dissolution of the State Security Investigation Services. The front said in a statement that the dissolution was only “formal” because it was replaced by the National Security Agency, which has the same practices.

Jama’a al-Islamiya has proposed that 70 percent of members of the constituent assembly that will write Egypt’s new constitution be chosen from among Parliament’s elected members in both houses. The remaining 30 percent should be non-parliamentary, a statement issued Sunday by the group’s Construction and Development Party said.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has begun consultations with certain parties with a view to forming a coalition government, said Farid Ismail, the deputy for Parliament’s Defense and National Security Committee. Ismail, who denied having communicated with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on the subject, said Parliament is generally inclined to reject the government statement delivered by the military-appointed prime minister, Kamal al-Ganzouri, in late February.

Salafist leader and presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail has announced that, should he become Egypt's next president, he would immediately order the release of all political prisoners and end the longstanding practice of referring civilians to military trials. Abou-Ismail made the statement during a visit to the Cairo headquarters of the Building and Development Party (BDP), Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's political arm.

While Christian churches in Egypt endorsed an Anglican initiative to meet with Muslim Brotherhood leaders Tuesday, various Coptic groups continued to reject dialogue with the Islamist organization. Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and his deputy Rashad al-Bayoumy, along with other group officials, received a high-level delegation Tuesday, including 17 members led by head of the Anglican Communion Safwat al-Bayaady and Anglican Church Undersecretary Andre Zaky, to discuss citizenship issues and religious freedoms.

The Eastern Christians are worried. Worried about their survival in a region they have lived in for 2,000 years. Worried about their rights being respected at a time of major upheaval. Worried about heightened religious tensions. I want to tell them that I understand them, that I understand their fears.

Coptic activists have requested representation in the constituent assembly that will draft the new constitution that is commensurate with their percentage of the population, not of Parliament. “Copts are 15 to 20 percent of the population,” said Sherif Doss, head of the General Coptic As

Emad Abdel Ghafour, president of the Salafi Nour Party, said Wednesday that the constituent assembly of 100 people that would be tasked with writing the new constitution should include members of all political forces, in addition to representatives of Egyptian expatriates, Coptic Christians and Nubians.