Egyptian security forces killed 12 suspected militants during raids on the Sinai Peninusla towns of al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid last week, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported May 25. Security sources said 18 suspects were arrested in the raids, and that forces destroyed various "terrorist hotbeds." as well. One solider was killed in a clash with a "terrorist cell" in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. The armed forces announced two weeks earlier that "security operations" have left a total of 725 suspected militants killed between late October and late April. (Aswat Masriya via AllAfrica, May 26) Iran's Press TV on June 1 identifies the group involved in the clashes as the (ISIS-aligned) Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which it now says has been renamed the Velayat Sinai. Although it has not been reported elsewhere, the account claims militants destroyed the (presumably Shi'ite) al-Rifa'i Mosque in Sheikh Zuweid, leaving it "flattened" with rocket-propelled grenades. 

An Egyptian court on May 28 acquitted a police officer accused of torturing an Islamist to death over a church bombing. Mohammed Abdel Rahman al-Shimi was sentenced to 15 years in prison in June 2012 for taking part in the tortue of Sayed Bilal. On appeal the verdict was overturned, and the retrial that resulted in this week's verdict was ordered. The bombing occurred weeks before the 2011 uprising against then-ruler Hosni Mubarak, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a church near Alexandria, killing more than 20. Police responded by arresting Islamists, including Bilal. He was tortured to death by al-Shimi and others, and his badly bruised body was returned to his family the next day. Police abuses were a major catalyst for the 2011 uprising.

The 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) concluded at the UN in New York on May 22 without approving a final document—due to US blocking of a provision on creating a Middle East nuclear-free zone. The US blocked the document, saying Egypt and other Arab states tried to "cynically manipulate" the process by setting a March 2016 deadline for Middle East nations to meet on the proposal—including Israel. The US was joined by the UK and Canada in blocking the document. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US Secretary of State John Kerry for blocking. Israel of course had no vote, as a non-signatory to the NPT. (AP, Interfax, The Guardian, May 23; Xinhua, May 22)

An Egyptian court on May 16 sentenced ex-president Mohammed Morsi and more than 100 others to death for their involvement in a mass prison break in 2011. The prison break occurred during the country's 2011 uprising that ousted then-president Hosni Mubarak. Morsi was accused of conspiring with foreign militants to free Islamists during the mass prison breaks. The case was referred by Judge Shaaban el-Shami to the nation's top Muslim theologian for his non-binding opinion on whether the sentences should stand, as is customary for all death sentences in Egypt. Amr Darrag, co-founder of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and cabinet minister under Morsi, denounced the verdict, saying that day would be "remembered as one of the darkest days in Egypt history." Amnesty International also spoke against the verdict, calling for a retrial and stating that all evidence gathered against the former president and his co-defendants was inadmissible as a result of their illegal detention before trial.

Eight supporters of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi  were sentenced to life in prison on May 11 for illegal protests and acts of violence committed in Cairo's eastern al-Marg district in July 2014. The defendants allegedly chanted against the army and the police, in addition to damaging public areas and blocking the road in al-Marg. After hearing the testimony of eyewitnesses, the prosecution accused the defendants of joining a terrorist organization, damaging public and private buildings, illegally protesting, and carrying weapons, among other things. Furthermore, the defendants allegedly protested against the death sentences of 14 Muslim Brotherhood leaders in al-Marg and Matariya. Two people were killed and four injured as a result of clashes between protestors and residents of the district.

Over the past two months, the ISIS international franchise has made foreboding gains from West Africa to the Indian subcontinent. In Nigeria, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS in March, according to the anti-terrorist monitoring group SITE. The pledge, attributed to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, was made in an audio posted on Twitter (and since removed). "We announce our allegiance to the Caliph... and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity," SITE quoted the statement. (Al Jazeera, March 8) 

Amnesty International (AI) claimed Feb. 23 that the Egyptian military failed to take adequate precautionary measures to avoid civilian casualties in an attack on the Libyan city of Derna last week. The air-strikes occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, and AI argues that indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations, such as this attack by the Egyptian military, amount to war crimes. The AI article cites eyewitness testimonies from local residents who claim there are no military targets near the largely residential area of Sheiha al-Gharbiya, where two missiles were fired resulting in the deaths of seven civilians. Additionally, Sheiha al-Gharbiya is located near the city's university. The international community is largely restricted to eyewitness accounts of missile attacks within urban areas of Libya due to the hostile conditions for journalists in the country. The Egyptian airstrikes were executed in retaliation for the slaughter of 21 Egyptian Christians [by presumed ISIS militants]. AI urges the Egyptian military and all warring parties in Libya to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and to ensure that their forces do not carry out direct attacks on civilians or attacks which are indiscriminate or disproportionate.

An Egyptian court on Feb. 23 sentenced activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah to five years in prison in a retrial on charges stemming from the 2011 uprising. Abdel-Fattah, a secular activist, was initially charged in November 2013 and later sentenced to 15 years under the country's law criminalizing unauthorized protest. While Abdel-Fattah's sentence was reduced on retrial, many supports have criticized the court's decision, claiming he should have been set free. Judge Hassan Farid also ordered that Abdel-Fattah and his co-defendants be subjected to police surveillance for a period of time after released from their prison sentences.