Egypt’s Emergency Law To Be Partially Lifted One Year After First Protest

Egypt’s military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has announced a partial lifting of Egypt’s draconian emergency law.

The announcement comes a day before the anniversary of the first demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square last year.

The state of emergency has been in place for decades, and gives police increased powers. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with reporter Noel King in Cairo.

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Today, Egypt’s top military ruler relented on one of the main demands of pro-democracy activists. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi announced a partial lifting of the country’s emergency laws. They’ve been in effect for decades, greatly restricting human rights in Egypt. Tantawi made the announcement on television, making reference to Egypt’s new parliament.

Hussein Tantawi: [speaking Arabic] Today, after the people had their say and chose their representatives in the people’s assembly, I have taken the decision to end the state of emergency in the entire republic, except in confronting crimes of thuggery. This decision will take effect as of January 25.

Mullins: That would be tomorrow, exactly one year since the start of massive anti-government demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Reporter Noel King is in Cairo and she says it’s easy to see why most Egyptians dislike the emergency laws.

Noel King: They’ve forbidden any gatherings of more than five people. They’ve allowed censorship in the media and elsewhere. They’ve allowed civilians to be dragged in front of military courts and tried in front of military tribunals. And they’ve allowed the indefinite detention of people who are charged with crimes like thuggery and terrorism. So, in many ways these laws have governed just about every aspect of Egyptian life for the past 30 years.

Mullins: Okay, so the Field Marshal Tantawi who we heard from, who worked for Hosni Mubarak for something like 20 years as his defense minister, he is now saying that the only time the emergency laws will still apply is in the case of thuggery. What defines a thug?

King: Well, that’s really the tough part in Egypt. Thuggery is a very, very broad definition. So, for example, if you are holding a peaceful demonstration in the street in Egypt. You’re not doing anything much, but you’re expressing your displeasure with the government, you can be hauled into prison and then hauled into court and charged with thuggery. There’s never been a very firm definition of what it entails. Now, in the past few months some of the activists who have remained in opposition to the regime after Hosni Mubarak fell have taken to calling and to jokingly calling themselves thugs. So you can see that this relationship between so-called thugs and the regime has always been a tense one and it’s really difficult to determine who a thug is. Many people in Egypt would say if the regime doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t agree with what you’re doing, then you’re a thug.

Mullins: Well, I guess at this point, I mean if you have young protestors chanting “We are thugs” it signifies something of a lack of trust in the government as it is right now. I wonder to what extent Egyptians broadly trust that the military will retreat to its barracks, especially now that there is a parliament that is in place that has met, the fact that there’s gonna be a presidential election coming up in a matter of months…is there much trust now between the people of Egypt and this military government?

King: That is a spectacularly difficult question. If you have 82-85 million people in Egypt, you probably have 82-85 million different opinions on just how much the government can be trusted. A broad swath of Egyptian society believes that the staff, the military council are the only ones to keep Egypt on track, who are able to keep Egypt on track. However, there is still a broad base of support in the activist community, a smaller community to be sure, but a very stalwart belief that Egypt’s military council is doing wrong by Egypt.

Mullins: Does it look like there will be Egyptians who test the lifting of the majority of emergency laws now?

King: Well, tomorrow what we’re looking at is the first anniversary of the beginning of the Egyptian revolution. And right now it’s really unclear what’s going to happen. So many people we expect will turn out in Tahrir Square tomorrow will be peaceful, will be overjoyed to be celebrating a year since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. On the other hand there is that smaller cadre of pro-democracy activists who say the revolution never finished, and the question is will tomorrow be the day that they decide they want to finish it?

Mullins: All right, reporter Noel King in Cairo. Thank you.

King: Thank you.

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