Project on Middle East Democracy

Project on Middle East Democracy
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Egypt: Emergency Laws Extended for Another Two Years Amid Temperate Protests

May 11th, 2010 by Chanan

Less than 12 hours after Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif formally proposed extending the three decade old emergency law for another two years, Egypt’s parliament voted in favor of the measure by an overwhelming majority. The new law modifies elements of previous versions by abolishing powers, such as media censorship, property confiscation and telephone surveillance, originally given to the police. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moufid Shehab told the Associated Press that “for the first time” the government is limiting the law’s jurisdiction to issues of terrorism and narcotics. “This step,” said Prime Minister Nazif, “shows the world that we are a state that respects its commitments in the area of human rights, and respects the rights and freedoms of its citizens.”

Activists, such as Human Rights Watch’s Heba Morayef, find these statements puzzling if not whole inaccurate. “The government has stated repeatedly that it would limit the emergency law’s use to narcotics and terrorism. This isn’t a new position,” she said. Backers of potential presidential contender, Mohamed ElBaradei, agreed with Morayef’s assessment. “It’s just a new look for the old emergency law,” said George Ishak, a senior member of ElBaradei’s coalition, the National Assembly for Change (NAC).

Prior to the government’s vote, a couple hundred protestors led by former presidential candidate Ayman Nour demonstrated in front of the parliament. Questioning the effectiveness of these, and other, protests by young Egyptian anti-government movements, Amro Hassan of the Los Angeles Times argued that they lack the organization, experience and resolve necessary to mount forceful pressure on the Mubarak government. “It takes more than Twitter messages, leftist slogans and the indignant musings of bloggers to challenge a regime with a history of crushing dissent,” he wrote.

In related news, Tariq Alhomayed, editor of the Saudi-funded Asharq Al-Awsat, expressed concern that ElBaradei is casting too broad a coalition that might lead to his “drown(ing) in the corridors of Egyptian politics.” Citing the recent drama surrounding a potential mistranslation of a quote attributed to ElBaradei that suggested he persuaded the Muslim Brotherhood to “work for justice, democracy and a secular state, away from religious suppression of the public,” Alhomayed stressed that ElBaradei must make a decision about his constituency: “The question is does ElBaradei believe in a secular civil state that believes in everybody’s right to life, or is he accepting of a group that brought about injecting religion in politics and has its own goals and approach that are harmful to Egypt.”

In the meanwhile, ElBaradei’s coalition, the NAC, announced the formation of satellite offices throughout the United States in cities such as New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Michigan.


Posted in Egypt, Human Rights, Islam and Democracy, Legislation, Middle Eastern Media, Muslim Brotherhood, Protests, Saudi Arabia, Secularism, Uncategorized |

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One Response to “Egypt: Emergency Laws Extended for Another Two Years Amid Temperate Protests”

  1. Welcome | Project on Middle East Democracy Says:

    […] annual process of appropriations. And today, only two days removed from the Emergency Law’s two-year extension in Egypt, Josh Rogin sheds more light on the details of the endowment and explains how some […]

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