Muslim Brotherhood member of the People's Assembly Hussein Ibrahim accused the government yesterday of taking citizens hostage, saying that when the police are unable to arrest an individual, they often go after family members. The police once held a two-month-old girl hostage, according to the National Human Rights Council (NHRC) report, said Ibrahim during the People's Assembly session yesterday. Ibrahim called for including the NHRC report on the People's Assembly agenda. Meanwhile, People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour rejected Ibrahim's call, saying the matter should be more appropriately discussed by the assembly's human rights committee. The Brotherhood member, for his part, said that reports by the human rights committee have never been discussed in the past at People's Assembly general sessions. Mofid Shehab, minister of state for legal affairs and parliamentary councils, the government is respeonsible for discussing reports by the NHRC, the content of which is usually documented by the Egyptian cabinet in a report which is then submitted to the concerned ministries. Shehab further said that NHRC reports sometimes have incorrect information, and refused to have the report included on the agenda. In the same session, Shehab agreed to a request by another Brotherhood MP to discuss the recent "failed negotiations" between Nile Basin countries. He said the negotiations did not fail, adding that there's still a third round of negotiations coming up. Sorour proposed a discussion on the Nile Basin negotiations to which Ahmed Ezz, head of the planning and budget committee and well known business tycoon, objected. Ezz asked ruling National Democratic Party representatives to abstain from voting, blocking any discussion of the issue. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
