VZCZCXRO3724
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #1066 1481146
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271146Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9341
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 001066 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC STAFF FOR PASCUAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT EXTENDS EMERGENCY LAW 
 
REF: CAIRO 971 
 
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EGYPT EXTENDS EMERGENCY LAW 
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1.(SBU)  On May 26, following a single day of debate, Egypt's 
Parliament voted to extend the Emergency Law, in place 
continuously since 1981, for an additional two years. The 
vote count was 305 in favor and 103 opposed, with the 87 
Moslem Brotherhood affiliated and small number of independent 
and secular opposition members of Parliament voting against 
the extension.  The Emergency Law permits indefinite 
detentions without trial, the use of military tribunals to 
adjudicate cases involving civilians, and may be used to 
limit freedoms of speech and association.  Egypt's Parliament 
last extended the Emergency Law on April 30, 2006, an 
extension that was due to expire on May 31, 2008. 
 
2.(SBU) In his 2005 re-election campaign platform, President 
Mubarak pledged that the Emergency Law would be replaced by a 
comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Law.  A government 
inter-agency drafting committee has reportedly been working 
on the Counter-Terrorism Law (reftel), and as recently as 
February 2008, Egypt's Minister for Parliamentary Affairs 
Mufeed Shehab announced that the law would be issued 
"on-time," presumably referring to the then May 31, 2008 
expiration date for the Emergency Law.  There is now no 
indication when the draft Counter-Terrorism law, the text of 
which has not be released publicly, will be sent to 
Parliament or become law. 
 
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Suggested Press Guidance 
------------------------- 
 
3.(SBU)  Question:  What is your reaction to Egypt's 
extension of the Emergency Law, which has been in place for 
almost three decades? 
 
Answer:  We are disappointed the Government of Egypt has 
extended the Emergency Law because it has not enacted its 
draft counter-terror law.  President Mubarak committed to 
lifting the Emergency Law in 2005.  New counter-terrorism 
legislation and the abolition of the Emergency Law was 
envisioned in the Constitutional Amendments ratified in 2007. 
 While we in the United States understand legislative delays, 
we look forward to the lifting of the Emergency Law and its 
replacement with a counter-terrorism law that better protects 
Egypt from terror and also ensures due process protection for 
criminal suspects. 
 
Background:  President Mubarak has extended the Emergency 
Law, which has been in continuous effect since 1981. We 
understand that the Egyptian government is preparing a 
counter-terrorism law to replace the Emergency Law but was 
unable to complete its work before the end of the current 
parliamentary session.  President Mubarak committed to 
lifting the Emergency Law in the run-up to his re-election in 
¶2005.  In 2007, the Egyptian Parliament amended the 
constitution, including a revision to the articles affecting 
crime and punishment.  The Egyptian Government regarded these 
amendments as a pre-condition for replacing the current 
Emergency Law with a counter-terrorism law based on European 
and other western statutory models. 
 
SCOBEY