VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI implored the Syrian regime Sunday to heed international demands to end the bloodshed and voiced hope that the joy of Easter would comfort Christians suffering because of their faith.

After leaving Tahrir Square late on Friday, supporters of presidential hopeful, Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, threatened to escalate their protests against what they describe as a fraudulent political and media campaign against the Salafist candidate. Their demonstrations already saw some chaos and violence.

Presidential hopeful Khairat El-Shater has filed his recommendation forms at the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) in order to be placed on Egypt's presidential ballot as the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) candidate.

Less than a week ago, thousands of Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail’s supporters marched to the Presidential Elections Commission to accompany the Salafi presidential hopeful as he filed his nomination papers. The celebratory march followed a blitz of poster campaigning that has made Abu Ismail’s face a ubiquitous sight on the streets of Cairo. The hype around the Salafi’s campaign was making headlines and, suddenly, raising expectations for Abu Ismail’s chances at the polls.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party's presidential hopeful Khairat al-Shater submitted the papers required for his candidacy to the Presidential Elections Commission in Heliopolis on Thursday. Shater headed to the commission headquarters with thousands of supporters from across Egypt.

Former members of the Constituent Assembly on Thursday declared their refusal of the deadline announced by People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny for them to return to the assembly without conditions. Katatny gave the withdrawn members a deadline of one week before the next assembly session.

Aboud al-Zomor, member of the Jama’a al-Islamiya Shura Council, has said the Muslim Brotherhood has the right to go back on its decision not to field candidates in the presidential election if circumstances change.

The Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate Khairat El-Shater's legal status remains questionable, following ambiguous details surrounding his most recent prison sentences. The presidential hopeful is known to be one of the masterminds behind the Islamist organisation as well as being its main finance manager, having merged his expanding wealth with that of the group during the mid-90s.

Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb is meeting on Wednesday with acting Coptic Pope Pachomius to discuss developments in the constituent assembly crisis, state-run news service MENA reported on Tuesday. Both religious institutions had agreed to withdraw from the assembly on the grounds that they are not properly represented in it, and that it is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Following news that the Muslim Brotherhood will be putting their member Khairat El-Shater forward for president, Mohamed Selim El-Awa’s campaign coordinator Mohamed Moemen told Ahram Online that he was concerned about the chances for an Islamist success.

Nader Bakar, spokesperson for the Salafi Nour Party, has denied reports that his party has decided to back Khairat al-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate. Earlier, media reports quoted the Ahmad Khalil, a leading figure in the Nour Party, as saying that the party would support Shater.

An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohamed, actions that sparked sectarian violence.

Divisions may erupt among the Islamist factions in Egypt, and a split vote among supporters of Islamist presidential hopefuls running in the upcoming presidential elections is expected, said Nageh Ibrahim, a member of Jama'a al-Islamiya’s Shura Council. In a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday Ibrahim said, "There will be a split of votes and a mild division within all Islamist movements."

Is he only worth the LE80 million that was confiscated from his family back in 2007? No one can tell. Very little is known about the economic ventures of the multi-millionaire businessman Khairat El-Shater who at the weekend became Egypt's latest presidential hopeful. He is the second-in-command in Egypt's largest and best-organised political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and, according to some reports, their top financier.

The recently-announced presidential candidacy of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, Khairat El-Shater, and the suspected illegibility of Salafist poster-child, Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, to run for president, has fuelled speculation over May's eagerly-anticipated elections.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party defended their decision to go back on an earlier resolution not to field a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that when the group made the decision not to run it was "being sincere, and when it decided to nominate Khairat al-Shater, it was also was honest with the people."

The Salafi Scholars Shura Council, which includes prominent preachers like Mohamed Hassan and Mohamed Yacoub, criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for fielding Khairat al- Shater in the presidential elections.

The Coptic Orthodox Church decided to boycott the Islamist-dominated panel charged with drafting Egypt’s future constitution, state-run news agency MENA reported Monday. The 20-member Holy Synod made a unanimous decision to withdraw the two church officials elected to the committee.

A deft businessman and politician tempered by years in Hosni Mubarak's prisons, Khairat al-Shater is aiming to bring Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to the pinnacle of power for the first time in its 84-year history. But his candidacy for the presidency has exposed rifts within the Islamist group's ranks, worried liberals and could turn up the heat in a row with Egypt's ruling army.

Saad El-Husseini, a Muslim Brotherhood MP, says the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Brotherhood's political wing, has drawn up the basic features of the constitution to be drafted by the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly.

The Social Popular Alliance Party condemned the imprisoning of eight activists who were protesting in solidarity with Copts following the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve in 2010. The party said in a statement Sunday that imprisoning activists is a “crime against the revolution.”