Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi responded on Saturday for the first time to a series of videos by an Egyptian whistleblower who accused him of misappropriating millions of dollars of public funds on personal projects.

Egyptian members of parliament have called for officials from ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to get back into politics in the light of the continuous failure of the current regime led by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Arabi21 reported yesterday.

The Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate on Wednesday condemned the arrest of Omar Magdy Shendi, the son of Magdy Shendi, a prominent journalist and editor of newspaper Al-Mashhad.

Cairo Criminal Court yesterday sentenced 11 senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohammed Badei, to life sentence in prison for alleged spying for Hamas, Quds Press reported.

Wael Ghonim, one of the icons of Egypt’s landmark 2011 anti-government protests, has appeared in a series of videos in which he has asked President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to “repent and seek forgiveness” from the widow of late leader Mohamed Morsi.

Egyptian journalist Magdi Shendi, editor of Al-Mashhad weekly, has said that the Egyptian security forces stormed his house at dawn on Tuesday to arrest him. However, when they did not find Shendi they arrested his son as a means to create leverage and ensure that he surrender.

Since its inception post-9/11, the US-led so-called “War on Terror” has precipated a riot of human rights abuses, including torture and other heinous methods, often used arbitrarily against innocent people.

Sixteen suspected members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood (MB) were apprehended by security forces on Tuesday, over cooperating and plotting with their fugitive leaders to carry out “hostile attacks,” against police and armed forces, according to the Ministry of Interior. 

The four countries boycotting Qatar – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – are expected to introduce a draft statement condemning Qatari media at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers scheduled for Tuesday in Cairo, according to diplomatic sources.

Videos posted online by an Egyptian construction contractor accusing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the military of corruption have gone viral, sparking a rare debate about the army’s growing economic empire.