An Iraqi blogger was sentenced to four years imprisonment for insulting Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. This has been the first trial of an Egyptian blogger. Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former law student, denied the charges. Human right groups have been lobbying he be freed.

While in past years more and more positions in Egypt have opened up to woman, including the medical profession, parliament and even ministers, the legal system has remained virtually woman-free, as woman were banned from serving as judges, that is, until now

In a suggestion that might spark more than a little anxiety to the northeast of Egypt, the ?kefaya? opposition group in the Arab Republic, known in English as ?Enough?, has stated that the Camp David Peace Accords between the State of Israel and Egypt should be abandoned.

Earlier in October, Muslims attacked churches and shops in the coastal Egyptian city of Alexandria over the distribution of a DVD of a play deemed offensive to their religion. At that time, four people were killed in riots that lasted for about a week.

A Mubarak win is undisputed from the results of elections on Wednesday, but the election created a rare space for dissent in a country not known for its democratic ideals.

A day after explosions ripped through the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian police began rounding up suspects in moves reminiscent of the October bombings in Taba, Egypt.

Egypt`s ruling party conference yielded no major changes. But formerly taboo issues are being aired.