Egypt to lift emergency laws
2006-03-23 16:21
Cairo - Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention.
Critics have long claimed the laws are used against opponents of the regime.
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament late on Wednesday.
He said the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, which has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent years.
Nazif said he had ordered the formation of a committee of experts to draft the new law, without saying when he expected it to come into force.
The committee was expected to draw on laws passed by countries such as the United States and Britain, as well as on existing international conventions and treaties, he said.
Parliament has renewed the emergency laws every three years since they were imposed after the 1981 assassination of president Anwar al-Sadat.
It has consistently ignored opposition demands, and calls from local and international human rights groups, that they be repealed.
The legislation was last extended in 2003 and is due to expire at the end of May.
Opponents can be detained for 45 days
The laws allow the government to detain anyone deemed to be threatening state security for renewable 45-day periods, without court orders. They also give military courts the power to try civilians.
Public demonstrations are banned under the legislation, which opponents also see as an attempt by the state to stifle basic freedoms, including freedom of association.
Opposition parties and the pro-reform movement Kefaya (Enough) have already launched a campaign calling on parliament not to extend the laws when the government refers them to the assembly.
The government, led by the ruling National Democratic Party of veteran President Hosni Mubarak, says it has invoked the laws only in specific cases, such as its fight against suspected Islamist militants.
Islamist militants launched a bloody campaign in 1992 against Mubarak's regime, culminating in 1997 with an attack in Luxor that left 58 foreign tourists dead.