CAIRO: Police on Thursday detained 23 activists from the Muslim Brotherhood who were campaigning against the Emergency Laws, a leader for the opposition Islamist movement told AFP. They were arrested at dawn as they were putting up posters and banners denouncing the renewal of the state of emergency, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Habib said. Another 25 had been detained a week earlier for the same reason. On April 30, parliament renewed the country s decades-old Emergency Laws for another two years, in a move which sparked condemnations from opposition movements and rights groups. The government justified its decision by arguing that anti-terrorist laws due to replace the Emergency Laws needed more time to be drafted and cited a recent spate of bombings in the Sinai and communal violence. The Muslim Brotherhood, which is officially banned but controls a fifth of parliament with lawmakers who were elected as independents, launched a campaign against the state of emergency last month. The laws, which grant security forces sweeping powers of arrest and restrict non-government political activity, have been imposed almost continuously since 1967 and been renewed every three years under President Hosni Mubarak s 25-year-old rule. AFP
Twenty-three opposition activists detained
