Egypt renews emergency law, but adds safeguards for civil society
| Cairo
The Egyptian parliament today extended until 2012 the country鈥檚 controversial emergency law, which critics say has stifled civil society. That keeps the 30-year law in effect as Egypt enters a tenuous election period during which the regime seeks to preserve its power.
But in an apparent attempt to placate the international community 鈥� particularly the US, which funnels roughly $1.5 billion in foreign aid to Egypt annually 鈥� the resolution included legal restrictions intended to safeguard civil rights. According to a government statement, the emergency law will apply solely to combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and would remove the government鈥檚 ability to censor publications and monitor 鈥渁ll forms of communication.鈥�
鈥淏y law, these provisions and powers in this law will exclusively be used to issues of terrorism and serious drug crimes, so you鈥檝e limited the scope significantly. The second thing that has to be read ... is the reduction of the number of powers,鈥� says Wael Aboulmagd, deputy minister of foreign affairs for the Ministry of Human Rights, who says that while mechanisms such as administrative arrest remain, they are 鈥渆xclusively鈥� limited to terrorism. 鈥淚t is a very significant change.鈥�
Critics dismiss new safeguards as 'meaningless'
Civil society leaders and experts on Egyptian politics dismissed the gesture, however. They said the ruling regime would continue to use the law, which has given it expansive powers of arrest, detention, and trial since 1981, to suppress political opposition.
鈥淭his is meaningless,鈥� says Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). 鈥淚t will have zero impact on the human rights situation.鈥�
鈥淭he government kept the power of detention, exceptional courts [military courts], unlawful wiretapping of communications, as well as home and body searches... In reality the only [power] that was left out was powers that were not utilized by the Ministry of Interior to start with,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭he only thing that is different, [is that] this is meant to control the next three elections Egypt will witness.鈥�
The government has previously stated the emergency law only applied to terrorism and drug trafficking, say Mr. Bahgat and Michele Dunne, a former employee at the US Embassy in Cairo.
鈥淭his is not a new promise, why would you believe it now?鈥� says Ms. Dunne, now editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin.
Instead, she sees the new amendments as a cautionary move against potential international backlash to the law鈥檚 renewal.
Egypt compares its delay to Obama stalling on Gitmo
In a press release, the Egyptian government compared their delay in replacing the emergency law to US President Barack Obama鈥檚 inability to close down Guantanamo Bay. Dunne calls that 鈥渁 pretty transparent effort to get Obama not to criticize Mubarak for this renewal... It鈥檚 a new approach on the Egyptian government鈥檚 part to try to defend themselves in anticipation of criticism.鈥�
Protesters from various opposition groups gathered outside the parliament holding signs that read: 鈥淭he Egyptian people are strangled by emergency law.鈥�
鈥淲e just will not give up and lose our hope. We are trying to wake up our people because they are afraid,鈥� says Moshira Ahmed, a member of the opposition April 6th youth movement. 鈥淧eople should ask for their rights, they don鈥檛 know their rights, [they are] too busy asking for money and work.鈥�
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