The Egyptian Court of Cassation on July 2 ordered President Mohammed Morsi to reinstate Abdel Meguid Mahmoud to his post as prosecutor-general (PG). Morsi appointed Talaat Abdallah as PG in November, pursuant to a controversial constitutional declaration which dismissed and replaced the Mubarak-era PG Mahmoud and immunized Morsi's own decisions from judicial appeal. The Cairo Court of Appeals overturned Mahmoud's dismissal in March based on a constitutional provision which established that the PG post comes with a four-year term and is not subject to presidential dismissal. Abdallah has not left office despite requests from Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council that he resign and return to his former position as a judge. Abdallah has been criticized by the liberal opposition for targeting critics of Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and independent media, including the popular television satirist Bassem Youssef who was recently arrested for allegedly insulting Islam and Morsi. Mahmoud pledged to protect the rights of the people after the ruling.

Turkish security forces killed one and wounded nine as villagers armed with improvised petrol bombs attacked a construction site of the gendarmerie at Kayacik in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir June 29. The attack came amid a protest against the new police station. Officers used tear-gas and live fire against the attackers. (Euronews, Focus Information Agency, June 29) The incident came two weeks after a conference in Diyarbakir openly broached the independence of Turkey's Kurdish areas, a topic long taboo in the country. The Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the Congress of Democratic Society (KCD) have held many conferences on Kurdish issues in the past, but this was the first where leaders discussed possible secession from Turkey and an independent Kurdish state. Organizers referred to the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as "the president of the Kurdish nation." (Rudaw, June 26)

Street clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi shook Egypt's port of Alexandria June 28, in a day of rival protests nationwide that left two dead—including a US citizen who was photographing. Several Muslim Brotherhood offices were ransacked and some torched across the country, including the offices in Alexandria and the Nile Delta governorates of Beheira, Gharbiya, Daqahilyah and Kafr Al-Sheikh. The Brotherhood released a statement holding members of the anti-Morsi Tamarod ("Rebel") campaign responsible for the violence, slamming them as "thugs." Cairo's Tahrir Square was again occupied, as thousands marched on the iconic plaza to demand Morsi's ouster. 

A Saudi Arabian court on June 24 sentenced human rights activist Abdulkarim al-Khader to eight years in prison for sedition. Abdulkarim al-Khader was one of the founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which aimed to increase awareness of civil rights in the country. He was sentenced to prison  after the ACPRA campaigned for a constitutional monarchy and elections in the Gulf Arab kingdom, during his time as its leader. Three years of the sentence must be spent in jail, and for five years he may avoid imprisonment only if he suspends his activities. The same court sentenced two other human rights activists, also founders of the ACPRA, to 10 years in prison in March. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has denounced the sentencing and demanded al-Khader's immediate release.

The Los Angeles Times reported June 19, citing anonymous sources, that "CIA operatives and US special operations troops have been secretly training Syrian rebels with anti-tank and antiaircraft weapons since late last year, months before President Obama approved plans to begin directly arming them, according to US officials and rebel commanders." The training is supposedly taking place at bases in Jordan and Turkey. The "directly military aid" that the US has now openly pledged to the Syrian rebels may also be reaching them, as BBC News quotes Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Meqdad boasting of having received new weapons shipments that "we believe will change the course of the battle on the ground." However, he denied the new weapons came from the US, implying other powers are also arming the FSA. The Friends of Syria group is scheduled to meet in Qatar next week, to discuss coordinating aid to the rebels. But in Russia, Vladimir Putin said he feared a "political void" in Syria would be filled by "terrorist organizations."

Egypt has declared a state of alert in the Sinai after extremist Islamist fighters set up a military base in the peninsula, Egyptian security officials said June 17.  Egyptian forces and police have imposed curfews on Sinai cities el-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah. Military helicopters were seen hovering over the cities, a Ma'an News Agency reporter said.  Militants from Egypt, Palestine and Mali affiliated to jihadist groups and al-Qaeda have deployed heavily in bunkers in a desert area in central Sinai, Egyptian security officials told Ma'an. 

Turkey's interior minister on June 17 declared a nationwide one-day general strike "illegal" and threatened to suppress it. Unions called the stoppage to protest the forced eviction of Istanbul's Gezi Park over the weekend, which saw widespread street-fighting, with access to the area now restricted. Thousands of workers are expected to march on Taksim Square, the plaza surrounding Gezi Park, in defiance of authorities. On June 14, before ordering police to clear the plaza, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with representatives of the Taksim Solidarity coalition, including Arzu Çerkezolu, general secretary of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK). But the meeting turned hostile, and afterwards Erdogan publically attacked Arzu—the first woman to lead the DISK—as an "ultra-unionist." The government says it will honor a court decision halting construction of the shopping mall at Gezi Park, the only green public place in central Istanbul. But DISK has joined wth protesters in demanding that Erdogan step down. In the 20 days of the uprising, five have been killed and thousands injured.

Thousands of Turkish lawyers on June 12 joined the ongoing protests in Ankara and Istanbul by marching out of courthouses in black robes. This came as the result of incidents during the protests the previous day, where a number of lawyers were handcuffed and dragged on the ground by police officers. Prosecutors in Istanbul had begun to investigate the use of excessive force by police officers over the course of the protests. On June 11 alone, more than 600 individuals were injured during the protests and tear gas was flooded into Taksim Square by police. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT)  reports that police action during the protests has reached levels of torture and ill treatment and that it will begin filing criminal complaints against officers who have violated international rights conventions.