Egypt Extends Restrictive Emergency Laws
Laws Permit Indefinite Detention Without Trial and Limit Speech
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, April 30, 2006
CAIRO, Egypt, April 30 -- Egypt's parliament complied with a request from President Hosni Mubarak to extend the country's 25-year old emergency laws another two years, effectively ending a recent cycle of reform in which much more was promised than delivered.
The vote for extension was 287 to 91.
No reform measure was more anticipated than cancellation of the emergency laws, which permit indefinite detention without trial and hearings in civilian cases by military courts. They also prohibit gatherings of more than five people, limit speech on vague grounds (like damaging Egypt's image) and restrict free association.
Last year, President Bush set development of freedom of speech and organization among steps that Egypt, a staunch ally and recipient of $2 billion in annual aid, should take. Bush had made democratic growth in the Middle East a centerpiece of his regional policy.
In recent weeks, Mubarak government officials have signaled a sense that U.S. pressure has eased and reform has gone far enough. Mubarak, who during last year's presidential elections promised to cancel the emergency law and replace them with targeted anti-terrorist measures, heralded the reversal two weeks ago. He told reporters that a new law would take 18 months to two years to formulate and therefore the old measures would remain in place.
In parliament, speaker Fathi Sorour, of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, told the legislators that Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif "informed me of the president's decision to extend the state of emergency." The laws were set to expire in June. They were instituted after the 1981 assassination of Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat.
Word of the decision had spread in Cairo Sunday morning, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition force, wore black sashes in protest in the People's Assembly, inscribed with the slogan "No Emergency Law." Brotherhood members cast most of today's dissenting votes.
The Brotherhood had banked on cancellation of the law so that it could operate fully as a political party instead of informally. Its parliament members are technically independents.
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, April 30, 2006
CAIRO, Egypt, April 30 -- Egypt's parliament complied with a request from President Hosni Mubarak to extend the country's 25-year old emergency laws another two years, effectively ending a recent cycle of reform in which much more was promised than delivered.
The vote for extension was 287 to 91.
No reform measure was more anticipated than cancellation of the emergency laws, which permit indefinite detention without trial and hearings in civilian cases by military courts. They also prohibit gatherings of more than five people, limit speech on vague grounds (like damaging Egypt's image) and restrict free association.
Last year, President Bush set development of freedom of speech and organization among steps that Egypt, a staunch ally and recipient of $2 billion in annual aid, should take. Bush had made democratic growth in the Middle East a centerpiece of his regional policy.
In recent weeks, Mubarak government officials have signaled a sense that U.S. pressure has eased and reform has gone far enough. Mubarak, who during last year's presidential elections promised to cancel the emergency law and replace them with targeted anti-terrorist measures, heralded the reversal two weeks ago. He told reporters that a new law would take 18 months to two years to formulate and therefore the old measures would remain in place.
In parliament, speaker Fathi Sorour, of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, told the legislators that Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif "informed me of the president's decision to extend the state of emergency." The laws were set to expire in June. They were instituted after the 1981 assassination of Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat.
Word of the decision had spread in Cairo Sunday morning, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition force, wore black sashes in protest in the People's Assembly, inscribed with the slogan "No Emergency Law." Brotherhood members cast most of today's dissenting votes.
The Brotherhood had banked on cancellation of the law so that it could operate fully as a political party instead of informally. Its parliament members are technically independents.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 8:39 PM
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