Forty-eight Egyptian illegal immigrants who went missing in the desert of eastern Libya at the start of the week were found by the Libyan air force on Friday, a security official said.

Dozens of Egyptians entered Libya but were abandoned on Monday by smugglers on the desert road between Tobruk and Ajdabiya.

Islamists held protests on Friday and clashed with police in the Egyptian city of Alexandria ahead of the start of the trial of deposed President Mohammed Morsi.

The pro-Morsi coalition that called for the protests said it would hold a rally on Monday outside the court where Morsi is expected to appear.

An Egyptian military court has sentenced a journalist to a year in prison for impersonating an army officer over the phone, his newspaper and wife said on Thursday.

The ruling against Hatem Abul Nour, a journalist with the independent El-Watan newspaper, was issued on Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

A car bomb intended for Egyptian troops in the Sinai exploded on Wednesday without causing any injuries, security officials said.

The bomb near the north Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwayid was discovered before the planned attack.

Egyptian security forces raided an apartment in eastern Cairo early Wednesday, arresting a key Muslim Brotherhood figure who had been on the run since the July coup that ousted the country's Islamist president, the Interior Ministry said.

The arrest of Essam el-Erian, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, was the latest in a wide-ranging crackdown and prosecution of both the Islamist group's leaders and its rank-and-file since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, who also hails from the Brotherhood.

U.S. lawmakers Tuesday urged the White House to lift its suspension of military aid to Egypt, warning freezing funds and weapons deliveries might unravel decades of cooperation with a key regional ally.

Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, ranking member of the House foreign affairs committee, said he had initially supported a temporary halt to deliveries of F-16 aircraft to the Egyptian military following its ouster of president Mohammed Morsi in July.

A Cairo court on Tuesday postponed the trial of four policemen accused of killing 37 Islamist prisoners in August, judicial sources said.

The next hearing will be held on November 12, they said.

Two Egyptians were found dead and dozens have gone missing in eastern Libya after they "illegally" crossed into the country, Egypt's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

A Libyan security source confirmed the group entered Libya secretly but were abandoned by smugglers on the desert road between Tobruk and Ajdabiya.

Egypt's ousted president Mohammed Morsi has rejected the authority of the court that is due to try him next week for incitement to murder, his supporters said Monday.

Morsi, an Islamist hailing from the Muslim Brotherhood who was Egypt's first freely elected leader, was ousted by the military on July 3 amid massive protests against his year-long rule.

Egypt's state prosecutor ordered on Monday a probe into a complaint against television satirist Bassem Youssef after his show mocked both the military chief and the formerly ruling Islamists, a judicial source said.

Youssef, known as 'Egypt's Jon Stewart' for modelling his show after the American comedian, debuted a new season on Friday in his first episode since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July.