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| Africa: North | |
| Scrap emergency law, rights body tells Mubarak | |
| 2004-12-15 | |
| CAIRO — The Egyptian government's human rights body has recommended to President Hosni Mubarak that he scrap emergency laws that have limited civil rights here for more than two decades, one of the council's members said yesterday. Hafez Abu Saada, council member and director of the independent Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, said in an interview that after lengthy study and discussion, members of the National Council for Human Rights were able to agree that the emergency laws be ended. "This was one of the main recommendations sent to the president" in early December, Abu Saada said. The council has not made its recommendations to Mubarak public, but was to issue a report on its activities in its first year in February. The government has long argued that it needs emergency laws to fight terrorism. The laws have been widely condemned by local and international human rights groups, including Abu Saada's organisation. In an indication of the sensitivities surrounding the issue, the council's spokesman and deputy head had said earlier yesterday that members agreed that the emergency laws should be ended, but had refused to say whether such a recommendation had been made to Mubarak. "The council believes that, taking dangers into account, we want to end the state of emergency," spokesman Ahmed Kamal Abou El-Magd told reporters. Abou El Magd was quick to add that his National Council for Human Rights was only an advisory body with no power to enforce its opinions.ÂÂ
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 I'm sure something will happen. Call me when it does. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-12-15 6:31:04 PM |