Thursday, June 14, 2012

Egypt: Not so much change as "change-ish"

For years Egypt had a notorious law that allowed the government to round up and imprison dissidents...or potential dissidents...on a whim. The law had been in place for thirty years, passed in the wake of the Sadat Assassination.

It was an important demand of the protestors against Mubarak that this law be gotten rid of. After Mubarak's downfall that finally happened on May 31, 2012.
And for almost an entire week...four whole days.
The Egyptian government announced Wednesday that military police and intelligence officers have been given the right to detain civilians, a move that appears to reflect concern about the prospect of mass protests linked to the upcoming presidential election...

...The decree was dated June 4, meaning it was issued just four days after the expiration of Egypt’s infamous emergency law
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

3 comments:

Montag said...

I'm still gobsmacked that the initial election turnout was only 40%. Now, all due respect to the international observers, but after the tumult of last year and the prospect of doing away with Mubarek and his stooges, that sounds about as plausible as Sarah Palin converting to Hinduism.

But, that the interim government can't do without the emergency law in effect doesn't surprise me a bit.

StonyPillow said...

If you want Sarah Palin to do something, just show her the money.

pansypoo said...

zombie mubarek 2012.