Egyptian rights groups have called for the immediate release of a 27-year-old woman pharmacist, who was allegedly beaten by colleagues for choosing not to wear the Islamic hijab.

A court in Egypt has renewed the detention of former presidential candidate Abdul Monem Aboul Fotouh for 45 days on charges of “broadcasting and spreading false news and information” as well as “misuse of a social media platform” and “aiding a terrorist organisation”.

The wife of detained Egyptian business tycoon Safwan Thabet was interrogated for eight hours on Sunday by the state security prosecution, her lawyer has said.

Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s fate remains “unclear” after on Thursday he completed two years and one day in pre-trial detention – contrary to Egypt’s code of criminal procedure, a member of his legal team has said.

Egypt on Tuesday postponed the trial of rights activist Patrick Zaki, his support committee said, accusing authorities of seeking to keep him “imprisoned as long as possible without any legal basis”.

Egyptian security forces have arrested an Egyptian media professor, Ayman Mansour Nada, who criticised media figures close to the regime.

The judicial authorities in Egypt yesterday lifted conditional release measures in place against Professor Hazem Hosny since February. The Cairo prosecutor reduced the measures imposed on the professor of political science at Cairo University in June under a conditional release order lasting four months, wherein he was basically under house …

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Egyptian security agencies of “persistent intimidation and harassment” of human rights defenders as a political tactic to silence them.

Authorities have arrested a doctor who appeared in a video that went viral on social media, shown bullying a nurse and forcing him to bow down to a dog, security sources reported.

Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) yesterday referred the former presidential candidate and head of the Strong Egypt Party, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, to the criminal court on charges of “leading a terrorist group”.