A senior Egyptian judge arrested early this week on corruption charges was found dead in his detention cell yesterday and is believed to have committed suicide, Reuters said. Wael Shalaby, a deputy chief justice in the administrative courts system and secretary-general of Maglis Al Dowla, had been arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption along with Maglis Al Dowla’s purchasing manager Gamal Al Labban. The Prosecutor General has issued a gag order on details of the corruption case.

The Shalaby case was the topic of the night on the nation’s talkshows. Shalaby had denied all accusations against him in questioning by investigators, his lawyer told CBC’s Lamees El Hadidy in a call-in last night. “There isn’t a single piece of evidence to prove Shalaby’s involvement in the case,” lawyer Sayed El Beheiry said (watch, runtime 12:00).

Amr Adib also spoke to El Beheiry, who repeated what he’d said to El Hadidy and added that his client was a “God-fearing man” who would not have committed suicide (watch, runtime 16:29). MP Mostafa Bakry rang up Adib to deny suggestions that Shalaby had been murdered while in custody. Bakry also defended the court-issued gag order on the case, saying it is “meant to protect the investigation” (watch, runtime 6:23). Judge Fouad Abdel Fattah, Shalaby successor in the administrative judiciary, told Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer that having known Shalaby personally, “I don’t think he committed suicide… Maybe he was under immense psychological pressure in the last few days.”

Over on Al Nahar, Youm7 honcho Khaled Salah hosted Orascom Hotels and Development Chairman Samih Sawiris on Ala Hawa Masr, during which the businessman gave his two cents on Egypt’s current economic situation. Sawiris subtly hinted that the government can do more to stimulate tourism and investments, saying that one of the main factors that encourage him to invest abroad is confidence that agreements will be upheld and not be reversed at the drop of a hat (watch, runtime 1:07:29).

Also last night:

• Lamees defended Ibrahim Eissa, criticizing what she characterized as the cancellation of his show. “This is frustrating for anyone in the media industry… if we remain quiet about this, then we will be going soon too,” she remarked, asking the authorities to leave room for differences in opinion (watch, runtime 5:08).
• Beta-testing of the fuel smart card system has rolled out to 2,500 of 3,600 petrol stations nationwide, the manager responsible for the program told Lamees (watch, runtime 16:08).
• Adib broadcast a report about a Justice Ministry workshop that will discuss unspecified amendments to the Criminal Code.