3 January: Clashes between pro-Morsi protestors and security forces leave 17 people dead and dozens injured in cities across Egypt, including Cairo, Giza, Ismailiya, and Fayoum.
14-15 January: Egyptians vote in a referendum on the new constitution. Voters overwhelmingly approve Egypt’s new constitution, with 98.1% voting “Yes”. The turnout among eligible voters was 38.6%.
24 January: Four bombs kill at least six people in Cairo; another 15 people are killed in clashes between Brotherhood supporters and security forces.
(AFP PHOTO/AHMED TARANH)
25 January: Demonstrations to commemorate the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution result in deadly clashes with security forces around Tahrir Square, other areas in the capital, and cities across the country. The violence leaves 66 dead, according to the Forensic Medicine Authority. Wiki-Thawra, an activist website, puts the figure at 103 deaths.
26 January: Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (now ‘State of Sinai’) shoots down a military helicopter using a surface-to-air missile of Syrian origin. Five soldiers are killed. It is unclear how the militants obtained the missile.
16 February: The bombing of a tour bus in the town of Taba, South Sinai, kills three Korean tourists and the Egyptian bus driver. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claims responsibility and the tourism industry takes a severe hit as several European countries warn their citizens to avoid South Sinai.
(AFP Photo)
23 February: Hazem El-Beblawi’s government announces its resignation after holding power for seven months. Many speculate that the move was intended to pave the way for Al-Sisi’s presidential candidacy. Interim president Adly Mansour appoints Ibrahim Mehleb to the post of Prime Minister and tasks him with forming a new government.
27 February: SCAF Presidential decree: Interim president Adly Mansour issues presidential decrees to reconstitute the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the National Defence Council. SCAF is to be headed by the Defence Minister, but should the president attend any of SCAF’s meetings, he would lead them, being the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, as per Article 152 of the new constitution.
19 March: Two students die and a large number are injured in universities across the country due to tear gas and birdshot used by security forces during clashes with Students Against the Coup (SAC). During the 2013/14 academic year a total of 83 students die in clashes with security forces, according to the SAC.
16 April: Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, Salafi preacher and former presidential candidate is sentenced to seven years in high-security prison by the Cairo Criminal Court for forging official documents in order to run as a candidate in the 2012 presidential elections.
24 March and 28 April: Minya Criminal Court hands preliminary death sentences to 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in March and 683 others in April. The mass sentences spark global condemnation.
28 April: 6 April Youth Movement is banned by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters for “espionage” and “activities that distort Egypt’s image”. The court also rules to shut down the headquarters of the movement, which was one of the main groups calling for protests ahead of the 25 January Revolution.
4 May: Al-Azhar expels 76 students from Al-Azhar University for “involvement in riots”. Expulsions for protesting come a month after 27 others were expelled.
(AFP PHOTO / HO / EGYPTIAN PRESIDENCY)
26-28 May: President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi wins elections in a three-day ballot, securing 96.9% of the vote, with 47.4% voter turnout, after running against Hamdeen Sabahy, leader of the Popular Current.
11 June: Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, together with 24 co-defendants, is sentenced by a court on charges of violating the protest law. Abdel Fattah is sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, and is arrested a day after the verdict is issued.
5 June: Adly Mansour issues a law regulating Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections, and the House of Representatives. The law states that the parliament will be comprised of 567 seats, of which 27 will be elected by the President. The remaining 540 will be distributed between 420 members, to be elected individually, and 120 seats allocated to party lists.
17 June: Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb forms a new cabinet; the first one under Al-Sisi’s rule. In the new government, the former ministry of information is removed, the ministry of urban development is established and the ministry of investment is split from the ministry of trade and industry.
23 June: The three Al Jazeera journalists; Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy, and Peter Greste, are among 20 defendants who receive sentences of up to ten years in prison. The verdict is internationally criticised and the US calls on Egypt to pardon the journalists.
(Photo by Mohsen Nabil\DNE)
19 July: 22 Egyptian military personnel are killed and 5 injured on the Egyptian-Libyan border after a fire-fight breaks out between a group of militants who attacked border guards near Al-Farafra Oasis. Several “terrorists” are also killed.
5 August: President Al-Sisi announces a new Suez Canal project to dig a 72-kilometre canal alongside the original, to be ready in a year. The project is funded through granting investment certificates to the public, and in eight days, more than EGP 60bn are collected.
9 August: Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court dissolves the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in a legal ruling which will prevent the party from participating in parliamentary elections.
11 October: The 2014/2015 academic year begins with the implementation of “intensive security measures” as the government enlists private firm Falcon Group to secure universities. During the first week of the semester, clashes erupt between students and personnel from Falcon in several campuses, and riot police are brought in. By the time of publishing, at least 320 students have been arrested, according to the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).
24 October: Attacks against the armed forces claim the lives of at least 31 Egyptian soldiers and injure over 25, leading the Egyptian government to enforce a 3-month state of emergency in areas of North Sinai, and the indefinite closure of the Rafah border crossing to the Gaza strip. ‘Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis later claims responsibility for the attack.
27 October: President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issues a decree that refers those accused of crimes against the state’s “vital” facilities to military prosecution. The law pertains to the “protection of vital and public facilities”, which according to the new law include “stations, power networks and towers, gas and oil fields, rail lines, road networks, bridges”.
(Photo by Google)
28 October: Border evacuations begin as the armed forces start to create a buffer zone along Egypt’s border with Gaza in order to eliminate smuggling tunnels underneath the border. The first phase entails the relocation of residents within 500 meters of the border. In the second phase, currently being implemented, it is to be widened to make the buffer zone 1 km wide.
14 November: Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledges allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and rebrand themselves ‘State of Sinai’.
10 November: The deadline by the Ministry of Social Solidarity for all NGOs in Egypt to register with the government under law 84 of 2002. The law has been criticised by several NGOs for its restrictive nature, and they have repeatedly called for the introduction of a new law in its place.
28 November: The Salafi Front calls for mass protests, dubbing the day the ‘Islamic Youth Uprising’ to demand the implementation of Islamic Shari’a law and to “defend the Islamic identity” of Egypt. Protests on the day are limited, with violence breaking out in the Matariya neighbourhood resulting in at least two deaths. The Muslim Brotherhood is among the groups that endorse the planned protest.
(AFP PHOTO / HASSAN MOHAMED)
29 November: Charges against former President Hosni Mubarak, which include ordering the killing of protestors during the January 2011 revolution, are dismissed. Mubarak and business tycoon Hussein Salem are acquitted of graft charges relating to the sale of natural gas to Israel. The former interior minister Habib Al-Adly, four of his aides, and Salem are acquitted on all charges.
8 December: The ‘terrorist entities’ draft law is approved by the cabinet on 26 November and then by the State Council on 8 December. The law allows for the dissolution of these entities and ending their activities.
8 December: Police raid a bath house in Ramses, near Cairo’s main railway station, and arrest 25 men on charges of “debauchery” and organising same-sex “orgies”. The case is reported by an investigative TV show led by Mona Iraqi on private satellite station Al-Qahera Wal Nas, The sting caused international outrage, and in January the men are found innocent.
9 December: Political activist, Ahmed Douma, is sentenced to three years hard labour in prison by the Cairo Criminal Court for contempt of the court, during a session of his ongoing trial relating to the “cabinet clashes” in 2011. Douma is also fined EGP 10,000 “for insulting the judiciary” after a tense exchange with the judge.
