Egypt detains 23 activists
2006-05-04 13:49
Cairo - Egyptian police detained 23 activists from the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday. The arrested were campaigning against state of emergency laws, said a leader for the opposition Islamist movement.
Deputy leader of the Brothers Mohammed Habib, said: "They were arrested at dawn as they were putting up posters and banners denouncing the renewal of the state of emergency."
Another 25 Muslim Brotherhood members were detained last week for the same reason.
On April 30, the Egyptian parliament renewed the country's decades-old emergency laws for another two years.
The move has sparked condemnations from the country's opposition movements and rights groups.
The Egyptian government justified its decision by saying that anti-terrorist laws, due to replace the emergency laws, needed more time to be drafted.
The government also cited a recent spate of bombings in the Sinai.
The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned but controls a fifth of the Egyptian parliament with lawmakers elected as independents.
It launched a campaign against the state of emergency last month.
The emergency laws grant security forces sweeping powers of arrest and restrict non-government political activity.
The laws have been imposed almost continuously since 1967, and have been renewed every three years under President Hosni Mubarak's 25-year-old rule.