Egypt extends decades old state of emergency another two years

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CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt on Monday extended a controversial decades-old state of emergency by two years despite pledges it would be replaced by new legislation, in a move slammed by rights groups and the opposition.

Parliament passed the law after a brief debate following a decision by President Hosni Mubarak to extend the state of emergency from June 1, a parliamentary official said.

The state of emergency was imposed in 1981 after the assassination by Islamists of president Anwar Sadat, and has been repeatedly renewed since then despite protests from rights groups and regime opponents.

Last year Judicial and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mufid Shehab said the state of emergency would end in 2008, even if the new anti-terror law meant to replace it was not ready.

"The state of emergency has for decades been one of the main causes of human rights violations in Egypt," the Hafez Abu Sada from the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights told AFP.

"The state of emergency is by definition put in place when the country is going though a period of danger such as a war or a natural disaster, which is not the case" now, he said.