A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Egypt: And This Differs From the State of Emergency How, Exactly?

Egypt's Justice Ministry has issued a decree allowing Military Intelligence and Military Police to arrest civilians for non-military crimes. The recent lifting of the State of Emergency after 30 years was celebrated, but liberal MP Amr Hamzawy is quoted as calling this "a revival of the State of Emergency using different tools." Except it looks to me like some of the exact same tools, and the timing just days before the election runoff would seem to negate the effect of lifting the Emergency before the runoff.

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