Sixteen rights groups issued a joint statement on Wednesday condemning the recent attacks against Egyptian Coptic Christians as violence erupted after the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The Prosecutor General has ordered the arrest of 11 persons on charges of murder, attempted murder, arson and possession of unlicensed weapons following violence on Saturday in Bani Ahmed, Minya.

Two leading Islamist figures and two field hospital doctors from a pro-Morsi sit-in in Cairo were referred on Wednesday to criminal court on several charges, including an attempted murder for assaulting a police officer.

The Egyptian prosecution has ordered that charges of incitement of violence facing leader of the Freedom and Justice Party Saad El-Katatni be dropped.

The Salafi-oriented Nour Party is looking for a role in political life after several indications that it would not return to politics after the drafting of a new constitution. Its decision to continue to participate in politics is linked to its fear that articles in the constitution related to Islamic Sharia law will be compromised.

The statement demanded the release of political prisoners, saying that “the trumped up charges” against them must be dropped. A number of Brotherhood leaders have been detained, including ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of his presidential team, FJP president Saad Al-Katatni, and deputy supreme guide of the Brotherhood, Khairat El-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi.

Egypt's Islamist Watan Party senior leader Yosri Hammad has denied any ongoing negotiations to release the Brotherhood's deputy general guide Khairat El-Shater, following a foreign envoys visit to El-Shater in prison on Sunday.

Ahmed Abdel Atty, the office director of ousted President Mohamed Morsy, and Ayman Hodhod, former head of the security authority at the presidency, were both detained for 15 days pending investigations over alleged involvement in the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace clashes on 5 and 6 December 2012.

A private meeting was held early Tuesday morning between representatives of different political factions and the Al-Nour Party in an attempt to find “common ground”.

Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat on Monday referred Hazem Abu Ismail to a criminal court on charges of forging his mother's nationality.

The son of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Deputy Supreme Guide, Khairat al-Shater, said his father met with foreign officials on Sunday, admitting the meeting took place despite Shater's original refusal not to meet them.

UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed, his Qatari counterpart Khalid Al-Attiyah, and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns were scheduled to visit the Muslim Brotherhood's second-man Khairat El-Shatar in Tora Prison on Sunday night, government sources told Ahram Online.

Customs officers at Cairo airport have seized three ancient Coptic icons that someone attempted to smuggle to the United States.

Qatari officials have urged Muslim Brotherhood leaders to end sit-ins in Cairo, a source close to Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Hamad said, stressing the Gulf state is working hard to help Egypt pull itself out of political crisis.

Public prosecutors have ordered the arrest of top-ranking officials from Mohamed Morsy's presidential staff, over alleged involvement in deadly violence that erupted outside the Ettehadiya presidential palace last December.

Six high-profile Muslim Brotherhood leaders will stand trial on 25 August by a court order issued Sunday for allegedly inciting the murder of protesters in Egypt.

Supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi marched on Salah Salem Road early on Sunday, to “deliver a message to the leaders of the coup,” a statement released by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) read.

Egypt's interim Vice President for foreign affairs Mohamed ElBaradei met with several regional authorities on Sunday, including UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi.

15 were injured and at least three houses were set on fire in sectarian clashes in Bani Ahmed village in the Minya governorate in Upper Egypt on Saturday.

Egypt's High Administrative Court adjourned on Thursday ruling in appeals to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi (ultraconservative) Nour Party to October 19.

The Hamas Foreign Ministry on Thursday warned of a possible humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by "the closure of the Rafah crossing." The Ministry called for the reopening of the crossing to all goods and passengers travelling to the Strip, reported Al-Ahram Arabic news website.