The Muslim Brotherhood represents the largest opposition group in the Egyptian Parliament in the run-up to this weekend's elections. But even though they hold 88 seats, the Brotherhood is actually barred from sitting in Parliament. No party is allowed to have any religious basis in Egyptian politics and so its members stand as independent candidates.
Parliamentary elections will be held in late November but the 2011 presidential elections are already the talk of the town in Cairo. Will Hosni Mubarak, who's ruled the country for the last 29 years, seek a seventh term in office? Will his son Gamal, a businessman-turned-politician, inherit power, as many analysts and opponents suspect? And will Mohamed ElBaradei, former director of the IAEA, manage to lift the legal obstacles to his candidacy to the top job?
In Cairo, the authorities allegedly target Shiite groups, who themselves stand accused of being linked to Iran and of trying to destabilise Egyptian society. The Shiites claim they are just trying to follow their branch of Islam.
In Egypt, donating organs is still a taboo: Egyptians are culturally against donating organs after their death. But as there is no legal framework on the issue, obtaining an organ can be subject to various forms of illegal trafficking.
Ygal SAADOUN 
