CAIRO: Moustafa El-Fiqi, chairman of the People's Assembly's foreign relations committee, lauded the extension of the emergency law in Egypt, saying it allows the government to take proactive measures against terrorism and the trafficking of narcotics. El-Fiqi spoke at a forum with students from the faculty of economics and political science on Thursday. He has also commented on Egypt's largest opposition group, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, saying that it gained its power by taking advantage of Egyptians' piousness and using it for their political agenda by appealing to people using religion. The Muslim Brotherhood's golden opportunity came when they won 88 seats at the People's Assembly, he said, adding that they however have not used it wisely. The Muslim Brotherhood has continuously advocated for the abolishment of the emergency law, heightening its campaigns with the increased crackdown on its members. “While all political opposition factions, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have united in the call to eliminate the emergency law, authorities have unceasingly continued to implement it. The prolonged oppression by the ruling regime against the people and in particular innocent members of the MB illustrates that it is incapable of adhering to the so-called democracy it boasts,” member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Office and the group's spokesman, Mohamed Morsi said. “The regime's repression is intolerable and will only result in further unrest and instability. The continued practice of emergency law is unconstitutional and civil liberties are being violated by the authorities, which is unacceptable,” he added. Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred five prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood to the State Security Emergency Court last month for allegedly funding a banned group. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, said, “This illustrates how the emergency law is used against scholars and intellectuals in contrast to the government's claim of using it only against terrorists and drug dealers.” In a recent interview with CNN's Christina Amanpour, when asked about the emergency law, leading member of the National Democratic Party, Ahmed Ezz, said, “In this heightened level of security awareness in the world, every country is grappling with how better to protect its citizens, including Egypt, and it has always been controversial. You have your patriot act. Our emergency law is our patriot act.” “It has only and exclusively been used to either combat terror or to avert the threat of terror. In no way has it been used to suppress either political or social or economic life,” he added, saying that the emergency law can only be lifted when the Middle East is at peace with itself.
