EGYPT - July 19 - Opposition Leaders Charged.

Prosecutors file 9 charges against the leaders of the opposition Labour party following student riots in May. The prosecutor's office says the charges included having links with the banned Muslim Brotherhood and with "members of fundamentalist organisations working against national unity". The party's newspaper, 'Al Shaab', whose editor was among those charged, is accused of "offering a platform" to these groups "to incite to harm general order and to propagate" the groups' principles. The charges carry jail sentences of up to 15 years. ('Al Shaab' was suspended on May 20, after printing an article alleged to have sparked the student riots. The Labour party has also been suspended since May, several months before legislative elections. Although the party has only 2 seats in the 454-member parliament, its members often raise issues that the government dislikes in the paper, such as relations with Israel and corruption. At least 40 students and 6 policemen were injured in the May riots, among the worst in Cairo since the protests against the Gulf War in 1991.)