CAIRO - At a meeting held recently with the nation's editors-in-chief, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who heads the caretaker Government, said that there were plans to dismantle the much-dreaded State Security apparatus. Many Egyptians want this to happen, as this agency is perceived as a tool of torturing many citizens and imposing restrictions on the freedom of opinion. In the meantime, some young people have launched a campaign on the social networking site Facebook, calling for the abolition of the State Security, that was established in the aftermath of the 23rd July 1952 Revolution to replace the Political Police, who were abolished by the same revolution. State Security was first established in 1913, when Egypt was under British occupation, to ensure political security by arresting patriots who fought against the occupation. The 1952 revolution led to many deep, radical changes in Egyptian society, although the mechanisms of State Security weren't affected in the slightest. State Security officers continued to undermine citizens by gagging them. The only difference was that this agency became more and more powerful, like a huge monster that terrified everyone, say critics. They add that the police serve and are submissive to the hegemony of State Security, many of whose senior officers are made ministers or assigned to other important posts when they've finished their service. For instance, former Minister of Interior Mamdouh Salem, who became Prime Minister in the era of president Anwar el- Sadat (1970-1981), was a State Security officer. The same applied to Sayyed Fahmi, Hassan Abu Basha, Ahmed Rushdi and Habeeb el-Adly. The State Security apparatus should be abolished in the aftermath of a revolution that has taught the world how people can obtain their rights, combat corruption and put an end to the years of torture and abuse of innocent people, say political activists. Although the purpose of the apparatus was to combat terrorism and anything else that threatened national security, in reality it worked hard to silence any voice opposed to the regime, they add. They blame for these cited abuses the Emergency Law that gives the State Security Department extraordinary powers, even to arrest countless people at random without charge.
