Egypt court lifts ban on Islamist newspaper

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) -- Egypt's leading Islamist newspaper, long considered a thorn in the side of the government, could return to the streets after a Cairo court on Saturday lifted a ban on it, court sources said.

The administrative court ruling ended the suspension of the biweekly al-Shaab, which a government committee that regulates political party affairs banned in June, along with the Labour party that publishes it.

The court said it was not competent to rule on a challenge by the party to the suspension of its activities, which followed clashes in May between students and police over a book which al-Shaab had said insulted Islam.

An elated Labour party chairman, Ibrahim Shukri, said the decision would boost the party's chances in parliamentary elections expected in October and November.

"This step will at least help us to make clear our opinion in the coming elections and it will help the candidates of the Labour party," he told reporters after the verdict was read.

The party has been in an electoral pact since 1987 with the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and most influential Islamist group, providing Egypt's Islamists with their main outlet in political life.

The Brotherhood was banned in 1954 but subsequently tolerated by the state. However it has been targeted by a government crackdown since 1995. The electoral pact is possible because voting is for individual, not party, candidacies.

Al-Shaab, whose editor is currently serving a prison sentence for slandering a government minister, carried a weekly column by Brotherhood leader Mustafa Mashhour.

Public prosecutors are currently considering a recommendation by the political parties committee to pursue criminal charges against Labour leaders, including those of establishing ties with "illegal and extremist" groups.

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