· May, 2012

Stories about Egypt from May, 2012

Egypt: The Resurrection of Ahmed Shafiq

  27 May 2012

The initial results of the first stage of the Egyptian presidential election indicate that Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq will take part in the runoff vote. There has been widespread shock at the reemergence of Shafiq, one of the “feloul”, or “remnants” of Mubarak's regime.

Egypt: No, the Revolution is Not Over

  26 May 2012

On May 23 and 24, the eyes of the whole world were once again on Egypt as the country held its first presidential election after the huge popular uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak a year and a half ago.

Egypt: First Free Presidential Election Underway

  23 May 2012

Egyptians are voting in the country's first free presidential election. While large queues have formed at some polling stations, the turnout seems to be lower than for the parliamentary elections in November 2011. This may reflect a disillusionment with the candidates felt by many.

Palestine: PalFest Literature Festival in Gaza for First Time

  18 May 2012

This year for the first time the Palestinian Festival of Literature was held in Gaza. A group of about forty Egyptian, Tunisian, Sudanese and Palestinian authors, artists and activists were granted permission to visit Gaza and participate in PalFest 2012 from May 5 to 10.

Egypt: The Questions Missing from the Presidential Debates

  16 May 2012

Following Egypt's first ever presidential debate, and with interviews being held every day with presidential candidates, political analyst Mohamed Seif Eldawla has written on his blog Zakerat Aloma about the questions missing from the presidential debates [ar].

Egypt: Historical Arabic Manuscripts Put Online

  13 May 2012

Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Wellcome Library and King’s College London Digital Humanities Department have recently launched the Wellcome Arabic Manuscript Cataloguing Partnership (WAMCP). The manuscripts collection comprises around 1000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine. All content is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Egypt: Anger at Arrest of Lawyer in Saudi Arabia

  7 May 2012

Relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been under pressure because of the arrest of the Egyptian lawyer Ahmed El Gizawy in Saudi Arabia. News reports stated that he was sentenced to 20 lashes for “defaming the Saudi king”.

Egypt: Eyewitness Account of Abbassiya Clashes

  2 May 2012

Eleven people were killed and more than 160 injured near Egypt's Ministry of Defence on May 2 after protesters demanding an end to military rule were attacked by armed men. In this post Mohamed ElGohary translates an eye-witness account.

May Day Marked Around the Arab World

  1 May 2012

May Day, or Labour Day, is commemorated in many Arab countries. In this post we look at some of the day's events this year: in Libya it became a national public holiday, in Bahrain demonstrations were attacked by riot police, and in Lebanon the website of the Ministry of Labour was hacked.

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