Egypt’s parliament on 6 May 2012 approved amendments to the Code of Military Justice that failed to end the unprecedented expansion of military trials of civilians, despite pleas for reform from the legal and human rights communities, Human Rights Watch said. In 2011 more than 12,000 civilians, including children, faced unfair military trials which fail to provide the basic due process rights of civilian courts, more than the number of military trials of civilians during 30 years of rule by former president Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has sparked controversy and debate over an article she wrote contending that women have not yet benefitted from the revolution and the women’s revolution won’t begin 'until the rage shifts from the oppressors in our presidential palaces to the oppressors on our streets and in our homes'. Critics have argued that while oppression does exist, her analysis is simplistic and irresponsible as it uses 'Orientalist' arguments to defame Arabic culture and serves a neo-colonial agenda of the 'white man'. In a blogpost, journalist and activist Mona Kareem called on Western media to highlight the voices of other Arab women for an accurate picture of 'Arab feminism'.

The two weeks since Egypt's abrupt cancellation of a Mubarak-era gas-export deal with Israel have seen an exchange of indirect threats and warnings between the two countries, culminating in an apparent Israeli military build-up on the border of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. 'In recent days, Israel appears to have begun preparing for military deployments on its southern border,' Tarek Fahmi, head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS.

This newsclip from The Real News Network examines worker protests in Egypt in the context of the European Bank seeking to ratify $1.5 bn in loans to Egypt. 'This isn't investment, it's imperialism!' shouts one protestor.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the Tunisian Center for Freedom of the Press have announced a training directory entitled 'Internet and Freedom of Expression'. It is the first Arabic directory containing six of the social media websites and online blogs with an explanation of how to design campaigns over the internet. This was in the occassion of International Day for the freedom of the press in Tunisia.

Egypt has seen a new round of violence this week as clashes broke out between protesters and unidentified aggressors at the Ministry of Defense, leaving over 11 people dead and hundreds injured on Wednesday. The thugs, [called ‘beltagia’ locally], were wearing civilian clothes and allegedly sponsored by the military, according to protesters. Al-Azhar students, Salafists, Revolutionary Socialists, the Kefaya Movement and the April 6 Youth Movement have all assembled today at the army’s headquarters to denounce the violence and demand the military’s removal.

Lawyers in Egypt said that the 14 women detained by the military on Friday were released on Sunday after the legal appeal was accepted by the military prosecutor. A total of 15 women were detained on Friday in the forced eviction of the sit-in near the ministry of defense, and military prosecutor ordered 14 of them to be held for 15 days pending investigation.

At least 18 journalists have been assaulted, injured, or arrested in the past three days (from 5 May), while covering clashes between protesters and thugs and uniformed military personnel in front of the defense ministry in the neighbourhood of Abbassiya in Cairo. The report comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

An Egyptian doctor volunteering at one of the makeshift hospitals in the Abbassiya district of Cairo assisting the wounded on Wednesday told the al-Dostour newspaper that at least 15 people have been killed in violent clashes that erupted massively on Wednesday morning. According to activists, 'army sponsored thugs' attacked the demonstrators near the ministry of defense on early Wednesday morning, firing live ammunition, Molotov cocktails and rocks at the unarmed protesters.

Egyptian freedom of expression advocates are in an uproar over the banning of a play over its alleged use of 'foul language'. Rights movements issued a joint statement condemning al-Sawy Cultural Center in Cairo for banning the play 'Mono-drama Auto bus' from showing at the center’s 7th Mono-drama theater festival taking place this month. The Egyptian Women Union, the New Woman Foundation, the Egyptian Coalition and the Egyptian Democratic Institution are among the organization who have signed on in condemnation.

In two days of consecutive protest, Egyptian youth continued to demand the release of human rights lawyer, Al Gizawi, who is detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly defaming its monarchy. The human rights lawyer is particularly contentious due to a lawsuit he filed in Egypt against King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz over alleged arbitrary detention of hundreds of Egyptians.

Thousands of people took to Cairo's Tahrir Square 20 April to protest against the handling of the nation's transition period by the ruling military council following the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrators called for a quick exit of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and that officials from the ousted president's government be barred from May's upcoming presidential election.

Since it assumed power after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, the performance of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has been, at times, head-scratching, says this briefing from the International Crisis Group. 'Extolled in the wake of the uprising as the revolution’s protector, many have come to view it as an agent of the counter-revo­lu­tion. It often has been obstinate, before abruptly yielding to pressure. It values its long ties with Washington, from which it receives much assistance, but seemed willing to jeopardise them by targeting US-funded NGOs.'

In this Newsclick video, Professor Samir Amin discuses with Aijaz Ahmad on developments in Egypt over the last one year. Samir Amin details the correlation of forces in Egypt today and identifies the current phase as the beginning of a long period of democratic change with its ups and downs.

Policy makers and academics often pay little attention to environmental drivers of migration in Egypt. This paper demonstrates that environmental factors are often the hidden cause of the migration of Egyptians from one region to another. The analysis is situated in the broader studies on migration, and also shows why the findings of this study are significant. The paper makes recommendations that will hopefully help policy makers in understanding the causes of environmental migration and assist them in developing policies to address the problem of environmentally induced migration in a sustainable way.

65 Egyptian prisoners in Israeli jails began a open-ended hunger strike, according to a report by the Israeli Yedioth Ahronot, quoted by Egypt’s state-owned news agency MENA. The Israeli Prisons Authority also on announced that three Egyptian detainees began a hunger strike to demand their release. The 65 Egyptians are held in various prisons in the Negev Desert in the South of Israel, according to statements by Ibrahim El-Darawi, head of the Palestinian Studies Center in Cairo.

The Egyptian economy will need of some kind of financial aid within the next few months to avoid a severe downturn.

Egypt’s military courts have investigated or tried at least 43 children over the past year, Human Rights Watch says, including the pending trial of 13-year-old Ahmed Hamdy Abdel Aziz in connection with the Port Said football riots. Children prosecuted in military courts have not had access to lawyers, and often to their families, until after military authorities have investigated and sentenced them. Since coming to power in February 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has referred over 12,000 civilians for prosecution by military courts before military judges, though these courts fail to meet minimum due process standards.

Egypt’s Free Egyptians liberal political party issued a statement on Monday warning the government of serious repercussions from the shortage of basic commodities and the rise in prices across the country. The party said that the shortages 'have become a huge burden on the shoulders of the Egyptian family, especially the poor and low-income workers.' It said an uprising of the poor could take place if the government is not careful.

Fifteen Egypt political groups and movements including the most prominent leftist and liberal political parties the Free Egyptians, the Democratic Front and al-Tagammu announced on Monday the formation of 'Constitution for All Egyptians Front', which aims to 'defend Egyptians right to draft a national constitution that ensures them their them their basic rights to freedom, dignity and social equality and also guarantees the representation of all the spectra and forces of the society and consensus over its drafting'.