Egypt Extends State of Emergency

Egypt's parliament agreed on Sunday to extend for 2 years the emergency law demanded by the government, while it prepares replacement anti-terrorism laws. According to these laws, an individual can be held without trial for up to six months "if necessary".

Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif said the state of emergency laws will be replaced with counter-terrorism laws, but there is no time for such amendments. The country cannot wait for these amendments, said Nazif backing the process. The Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition force, said this extension is not justified.

"They use (the law) to silence and oppress the opposition. If they had wanted to end the state of emergency and to present an alternative draft law, they could have done that," Brotherhood deputy leader Mohamed Habib said.

Mubarak had already asserted that the law would be extended before bombers killed 18 people in the Red Sea resort of Dahab last week, attacking a multinational peace force in the Sinai Peninsula. The law was implemented in October 1981, when Islamist militants assassinated President Anwar Sadat and Mubarak took office.

2 years "was not long when measured against the dangers which threaten us and our future", the president told the government. "We will never use the emergency law other than to protect the citizen and the security of the nation and combat terrorism," he added.

The government is holding at least 10,000 people without charge on the basis of this law, human rights groups say. The United States, which is donating large funds to Egypt, demanded last year, among other political chances, for the abolition of the emergency law.