CAIRO -- In a controversial move seemingly aimed at shoring up his grip on power, Egypt President Mohamed Morsi appointed 17 new governors, including seven members of his own Muslim Brotherhood party and a member of the radical Islamist Group.  

The appointments mean that the Brotherhood controls the governorships in 10 out of the country's 27 provinces. 

Residents responded angrily to the move across the Nile Delta on Monday. In Fayoum, a hundred people were reportedly injured when Islamists marching in support of the new governor fought with opposition. A Muslim Brotherhood office was torched in Dakhaliya. Angry citizens in four other provinces barricaded and chained entrances to public offices, barring new governors from entering.  

But it was the naming of Adel Al-Khayyat as governor of Luxor that was the most controversial appointment. 

Al-Khayyat was a member of the formerly militant Gamaa Islamiya -- Islamic Group -- and is now a member of the group’s political arm, the Building and Construction Party. The Islamic Group, which has since renounced violence, took credit for the 1997 massacre in Luxor in which six gunmen killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians in front of a famous Pharonic temple on Luxor’s West Bank. 

Although news reports say that Al-Khayyat was jailed for a year as a minor suspect in President Anwar Sadat’s assassination and the killing of Egyptian security forces, he was not implicated in the Luxor attack.  

The distinction was lost on those who work in Luxor’s tourist industry. Residents started gathering in front of the governorate Monday morning to stop Al-Khayyat from taking up residence. 

“You know he is a terrorist!” exclaimed Yohanna Solyan, owner of a Luxor travel agency.  “We need help. There are no tourists here. I had to close my company.”  

His wife, Jacqueline Purki, a tour guide, now works one day a month compared to the six days a week she used to work before the revolution. 

“We are very angry,” she said. “The few people who are coming to Luxor will stop coming.”  

Some extremists have threatened to destroy antiquities or statues they consider idolatrous. Amre Moussa, opposition leader and former Arab League chief, tweeted  “Appointing … a member of the Islamic Group whose leaders ban tourism and call for destroying antiquities … is a wrong decision.” 

Islamic Group is a top ally of Morsi. It’s leaders have threatened an "Islamic revolution" if liberals try to unseat the Islamist president. 

“This was done to satisfy all the Islamic currents, groups and parties, to give them a piece of the cake. It didn’t come to mind that Al Khayyat is a delegate for the image of tourism,”  said Gen. Sameh Seif al Yazal, an intelligence analyst. Al Yazal said the move is a measure of Morsi’s fear of upcoming protests, widely expected to be massive and violent, calling on Morsi to hold early elections.

Morsi's appointments come before the June 30 anniversary of his taking office, when the liberal and secular Egyptian opposition plans demonstrations to demand his ouster.

“He wants to have loyalists in the position of governor at this point in time … . It indicates the Muslim Brotherhood is sticking to the same strategy of consolidating their rule,” said American University of Cairo political science professor Gamal Abdul Gawad. By appointing Al-Khayyat, reasoned Abdul Gawad, Morsi aimed to please Islamic Group and strengthen the coalition between his party and theirs.  

Neither the president’s office nor the Ministry of Tourism have responded to calls for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

CAIRO — Egypt's highest court on Sunday ruled that the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament is unconstitutional — but allowed it to remain until future elections are held.

The decision ends the legal uncertainty hanging over the country’s political transition, but does little diffuse tension between the ruling Muslim Brotherhood and mostly secular opposition groups.

However, it illustrates the willingness of Egypt’s judiciary to challenge the Muslim Brotherhood on constitutional matters.

The upper house of parliament, known as the the Shura council, was elected as a consultative assembly with just a 7 percent voter turnout according to Reuters, and has angered the opposition by stirring up various controversies since it assumed legislative powers in December.

These include a new civil society law criticized by human rights groups and the West as a threat to democratic freedoms, and proposals for judicial reform that are fuelling tensions between judges and Islamists who see the judiciary as hostile.

The Supreme Constitutional Court decided the Shura council is illegal but that it should keep its lawmaking role until the main lower house can resolve similar legal questions over its status.

Those questions are unlikely to be answered except by a fresh round of elections, for which a date has yet to be set.

Gaber Nassar, constitutional law professor at Cairo University, said; “Whatever laws were issued before by the Shura council are legal but now the only thing the Shura council can now do is issue laws related to electing the new parliament.  The Shura will be dissolved as soon as new parliamentary elections are held.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opponent of the Brotherhood, was quoted by Reuters as describing Sunday’s ruling as "an expected result of a low-level understanding and political thuggery that has toppled the concept of legitimacy and the rule of law."

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sun Jun 2, 2013 11:42 AM EDT

Oliver Weiken / EPA

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi gesturing during an interview Saturday.

CAIRO - Islamist members of the Muslim Brotherhood were given greater influence in Egypt’s government on Tuesday when President Mohamed Morsi reshuffled his cabinet in response to demands for change.

Opposition parties and many citizens have complained of mismanagement and have urged changes, including the removal of Prime Minister Hesham Kandil.

The limited reshuffle is unlikely to satisfy his opponents or help build political consensus in the country, which is still struggling to establish a stable system in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution that removed Hosni Mubarak from power.

Two of the ousted ministers were involved in crucial talks with the IMF over a $4.8 billion loan to Egypt, Reuters reported.

Nine new ministers were named, including Amr Darrag, a senior official in the Muslim Brotherhood movement’s Freedom and Justice Party, who was appointed planning minister, according to Reuters.

Another Brotherhood member, Yehya Hamed, was named investment minister, and Ahmed el-Gezawi, an FJP member, took over agriculture, lifting the movement's share to around a third of the cabinet's 35 portfolios.

Fayyad Abdel Moneim, a specialist in Islamic economics, was appointed as finance minister, replacing Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegaz, Reuters said.

Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister, former head of the Arab League and currently one of the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, said in a statement: “The cabinet reshuffle has not added or changed much. We will need another reshuffle soon."

“We need [a] national-unity-based government with high expertise so people can trust it. The challenges are huge," he added. "Therefore the current government will not be able to handle the situation. The current reshuffle reflects another complete Brotherhood-ization. Wouldn't it have been more useful to take a bigger step towards national cooperation and unity?”

Morsi announced on April 20 that he would carry out the reshuffle to replace a government widely criticized for failing to get the economy moving nine months into his presidency.

"The reshuffle is unlikely to signal any real shift in policy, particularly from an economic perspective," Said Hirsh, a London-based economist, told Reuters. "If anything, it deals a blow to demands for political consensus which the government seems to have ignored." 

Reuters and NBC News' Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi threatened on Sunday to take unspecified steps to "protect this nation" after violent demonstrations against his Muslim Brotherhood, using vague but severe language that the opposition said heralded a crackdown.

In remarks following clashes outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters on Friday, Morsi warned that  would be taken against any politicians shown to be involved in what he described as violence and rioting.

"If I am forced to do what is required to protect this nation, then I will do it. And I fear that I might be on the verge of doing it," Morsi said in a statement. He did not elaborate.

Morsi has faced increasing anger since the Brotherhood propelled him to power in a June election, and several spates of protest have turned into violent riots.

The president's opponents accuse him and the Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era and resorting to undemocratic police powers two years after autocrat Mubarak was brought down by popular protests.

The brotherhood accuses its secularist opponents of stirring trouble to seize power they could not win at the ballot box, and says the relentless civil unrest is wrecking efforts to salvage an economy driven to its knees by uncertainty.

"They are very scary comments," said Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front (NSF), an alliance of non-Islamist parties formed late last year to oppose Morsi.

"I can see language that is heading towards taking some suppressive measures," he added.

Dozens of people were hurt on Friday when several thousand supporters and opponents of the Brotherhood fought near the Islamist group's headquarters.

RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE

Dawoud said the NSF was not behind those protests, but added that some of its members may have decided to take part.

Morsi said everyone had the right to peaceful protest, but "what is happening now has nothing to do with the revolution".

"I urge all political forces not to provide any political cover for acts of violence and rioting. I will not be happy if investigations prove the guilt of some politicians," he said in the remarks, which were published on his Twitter account.

"Some are using the media to incite violence and those whose involvement is proven will not escape punishment," he added. "Anyone who takes part in incitement is a partner in the crime."

He also spoke of attempts to portray the state as weak but said these had failed: "The apparatus of the state are recovering and can deter any law breaker," he added.

Exactly what new steps Morsi is considering became the subject of speculation.

In late January, he declared a state of emergency rule in three cities near the Suez Canal to combat a wave of violence there. A declaration of a state of emergency elsewhere is unlikely, said Yasser El-Shimy, Egypt analyst for the International Crisis Group, adding arrests were more probable.

"My impression is that Morsi and the Brotherhood in general have had it with the violence that is taking place and they are running out of patience," he said.

"This is definitely the strictest he has spoken regarding the rioting," he added. "Now Morsi feels there is enough public opinion on his side to justify taking stricter measures."

One recent source of tension between Morsi and the opposition was his call for parliamentary elections based on a controversial election law. The vote, due to begin in late April, has been postponed by a court ruling and it is now not clear when it will happen.

Morsi's political supporters and opponents signed a document agreeing to renounce violence following riots in late January.

Morsi's opponents say they are committed to peaceful protest and have also accused the Brotherhood of using violence and inciting tension in the street. The Brotherhood says the opposition has done little to rein in its followers.

Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy

Amr Nabil / AP, file

The head of the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces Mouaz al-Khatib resigned Sunday.

The leader of the Western-backed Syrian opposition coalition resigned Sunday, destabilizing the rebels' two-year uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Mouaz al-Khatib, a respected preacher and moderate Islamist who had spearheaded the Syrian National Coalition since it was formed last November, said in a post on his Facebook page that he was following through on a vow to leave his position if unspecified “red lines” were crossed.

“I had promised our people … to resign if the situation reaches certain red lines. Today, I honor my promise and I resign from the National Coalition to be able to work with freedom not available through official institutions,” al-Khatib said.

“We have been slaughtered under the watchful eyes of the world for two years, in an unprecedented manner by a vicious regime,” he said  of the bloody civil war that has plunged the nation into chaos, leaving at least 70,000 people dead.

“Everything that happened to the Syrian people – from destruction of infrastructure, arrest of tens of thousands of their children, displacement of tens of thousands, and other tragedies – is not enough for the world to make an international decision to allow people to defend themselves,” al-Khatib added.

Al-Khatib’s resignation comes on the heels of his recent decision to offer Assad a negotiated exit from Syria, which received harsh criticism from many prominent figures in the opposition movement.

And despite al-Khatib’s protests, the coalition last week took steps to form a provisional government that would have weakened al-Khatib’s influence in domestic affairs, Reuters reported.

Coalition figures picked Islamist technocrat Ghasshan Hitto as the provisional government’s prime minister. Hitto is backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Reuters.

The departure of Al-Khatib deals a significant blow to the moderate faction of the uprising, which many Westerners see as a safeguard against the rise of insurgent fighters linked to al-Qaeda.

The shake-up in the Syrian National Coalition, which is recognized by scores of nations and international bodies as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, could potentially make Western powers more reluctant to sponsor rebels.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who appeared alongside al-Khatib in Rome when the U.S. announced additional aid to the Syrian opposition group in late February, said he was disappointed to see al-Khatib step down — but not surprised.

“I am personally sorry to see him go because I like him on a personal level,” Kerry told reporters on a trip to Baghdad on Sunday.

“The notion that he might resign has frankly been expressed by him on many different occasions in many different places,” Kerry added.

At the end of his Facebook post, al-Khatib said he plans to remain involved in efforts to bring down Assad’s regime.

“I will continue to work with my colleagues, those who seek the freedom for our people,” al-Khatib said.

“A little bit of patience, our people,” he added. “Isn’t the morning near?”

Related: Kerry urges Iraq to stop arms flow to Syria on Baghdad visit

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

An anti-Morsi protester stands with the national flag after protesters burned Muslim Brotherhood buses during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo's Moqattam district on March 22, 2013.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Muslim Brotherhood supporters conduct Friday noon prayers in front of the main headquarters of the Brotherhood in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptians shout anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans during a march from downtown to the main Brotherhood headquarters in the hilltop neighborhood of Muqattam, Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013. Thousands of protesters from different areas of Cairo are marching on Friday to express their rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi's rule.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptians shout anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans during a demonstration, in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013.

By Reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Egyptian protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed near the group's headquarters in Cairo on Friday, and at least 30 people were wounded, medics said.

Columns of riot police stood guard as chanting protesters holding flags and banners packed streets around the Brotherhood headquarters, footage on Al Jazeera and state TV showed.

Earlier in the day, Brotherhood supporters had arrived in the vicinity on buses and were showered with stones from the protesters, and Brotherhood supporters threw stones back, witnesses said. About 30 people were wounded in the fighting, Mohamed Sultan, the head of the ambulance service, said.

Continue reading.

Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images

Supporters of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood clash with anti-government protesters near the movements' headquarters in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Anti-Morsi protesters carry a Muslim Brotherhood member after hitting him during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptian policemen write a report at a destroyed branch headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood after protesters broke in to the building in Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

An Egyptian anti-Muslim Brotherhood protester throws a stone towards Muslim Brotherhood supporters during clashes near the party's national headquarters in Cairo on March 22.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

An injured Egyptian anti-Muslim brotherhood protester is taken away by his comrades, during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on March 22.

Ahmed Omar / AP, file

TV host Bassem Youssef addresses attendants at a dinner party in Cairo on Dec. 8. Prosecutors launched an investigation Tuesday against Youssef for allegedly insulting the president.

Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.

Lawyer Ramadan Abdel-Hamid Oqsori charged that TV host Bassem Youssef insulted President Mohammed Morsi by putting the leader's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches.

Youssef's case will increase worries about freedom of speech in the post-Hosni Mubarak era, especially when the country's new constitution includes provisions criticized by rights activists for, among other things, forbidding insults.

In a separate case that fuels concern about press freedom, one of Egypt's leading independent newspapers said it was being investigated by the prosecutor following a complaint from the presidency, which accused it of publishing false news.

Egypt votes on its constitution: What's at stake?

Other cases have been brought against media personalities who have criticized the president. Some of the cases have ended with charges being dropped. Morsi's office maintains that the president has nothing to do with legal procedures against media critics.

A local committee of journalists and editors has called for stronger guarantees of press freedoms and a rejection of the current constitution, fearing it allows for jailing journalists under broadly-worded articles regarding media offenses.

Authorities ordered the closure of TV station Al-Fareen last summer after bringing its owner, Tawfiq Okasha, to trial for scathing attacks against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group. Okasha had emerged as one of the most popular TV personalities of post-Mubarak Egypt by railing against the uprising that toppled Mubarak's 29-year rule in February 2011.

PhotoBlog: Egyptian Copts gather before constitution vote

Rise to fame
Youssef, a doctor, catapulted to fame when his video blogs mocking politics received hundreds of thousands of hits shortly after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Mubarak.

Youssef's program is modeled after Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," where he has appeared as a guest.

Unlike other local TV presenters, Youssef uses satire to mock fiery comments made by ultraconservative clerics and politicians, garnering him a legion of fans among the country's revolutionaries and liberals.

Egypt's ex-dictator Mubarak to be moved to military hospital

Huge online following
Among his most popular clips are the ones where he pokes fun at the president's speeches and decisions.

While holding a red, furry pillow with Morsi's picture on it, Youssef satirizes Morsi's style of speech.

"He tells us things we never knew," he says, before wordy clips of Morsi going into detail about the day of the week and other basic facts.

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

"It's October 6! Tell us when it's Christmas!" Youssef shouts to the camera as the audience erupts in laughter and applause.

Youssef, 38, is one of Egypt's most popular TV presenters with 1.4 million fans on Facebook and nearly 850,000 followers on Twitter, just shy of the president's number of followers.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood chant pro-Morsi slogans during a rally in Cairo on Friday in the runup to Saturday's vote on a draft constitution.

Updated at 9:31 a.m. ET: Egyptians voted on Saturday on a constitution promoted by its Islamist backers as the way out of a prolonged political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation.

Lines formed outside polling stations in Cairo and other cities and soldiers joined police to secure the referendum process after deadly protests during the build-up. Street brawls again erupted on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second city.  

ANALYSIS: As Egypt votes, what is at stake?

The opposition says the constitution is too Islamist and tramples on minority rights. Morsi's supporters say the charter is needed if progress is to be made toward democracy nearly two years after the fall of military strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Highlighting the tension in the run-up to the vote, nearly 120,000 army troops were deployed on Saturday to protect polling stations. Clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents over the past three weeks have left at least 10 people dead and about 1,000 wounded.

"The times of silence are over," bank employee Essam el-Guindy said as he waited to cast his ballot in Cairo's upscale Zamalek district. "I am not OK with the constitution. Morsi should not have let the country split like this."

El-Guindy was one of about 20 men standing in line. A separate women's line had twice as many people. Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of voters waited outside polling stations for nearly two hours before stations opened at 8 a.m.

PhotoBlog: Egyptians vote on divisive constitution

"I read parts of the constitution and saw no reason to vote against it," said Rania Wafik as she held her newborn baby while waiting in line. "We need to move on and I just see no reason to vote against the constitution."

In Alexandria on Friday, tensions boiled over into a street brawl between rival factions armed with clubs, knives and swords. Several cars were set on fire and a Muslim preacher who had urged people to vote "yes" to the constitution was trapped inside his mosque by angry opposition supporters.

In the capital, Cairo, both sides made low-key final efforts to rally supporters.

Flag-waving Islamists gathered peacefully at one of the main mosques, some shouting "Islam, Islam'' and "We've come here to say 'yes' to the constitution."

Opposition supporters — who have been urged to vote "no" by their leaders — assembled outside the presidential palace.

The building remains ringed with police, soldiers and tanks after street clashes caused at least eight deaths earlier this month in violence prompted by Morsi's decision to award himself sweeping powers in order to ram through the new charter.

ANALYSIS: Egypt's military maintains watchful eye on politics

The referendum will be held on two days — this Saturday and next — because there are not enough judges willing to monitor all polling stations after some in the judiciary said they would boycott the vote.

Egyptians are being asked to accept or reject a constitution that must be in place before a parliamentary election can be held next year — an event many hope can steer the country toward stability.

The measure is generally expected to pass, given the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood's record of winning elections since the fall of Mubarak. Many Egyptians, tired of turmoil, may simply fall in line and vote "yes."

If the constitution is voted down, a new assembly will have to be formed to draft a revised version, a process that could take up to nine months.

ANALYSIS: Egypt is rapidly approaching its own 'cliff'

Just over half of Egypt's electorate of 51 million will vote in the first round in Cairo and other cities. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close 12 hours later.

Official results will not be announced until after the second round, though it is likely that details will emerge after the first round that will give an idea of the overall trend.

The charter has been criticised by some overseas bodies.

The International Council of Jurists, a Geneva-based human rights group, said it falls short of international standards on the accountability of the armed forces, the independence of the judiciary, and recognition of human rights.

'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

United Nations human rights experts said the draft should be reviewed to ensure that Egypt meets its obligations under international law on equality and women's rights.

To provide security for the vote, the army has deployed about 120,000 troops and 6,000 tanks and armoured vehicles to protect polling stations and other government buildings. While the military backed Mubarak and his predecessors, it has not intervened on either side in the present crisis.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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