CAIRO - Hundreds of youths, human rights activists as well as workers' groups are planning protests Sunday against a proposed law criminalising strikes and protests, while an international rights group slammed such a legislation as a violation of international rights and demanded its immediate removal. While Prime Minister Essam Sharaf had a consultation meeting with Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz el-Guindi to lower the penalty suggested in the proposed law, revolutionaries, workers and some political parties held another kind of meeting to prepare for the protest. "We will gather outside the Press Syndicate at 6:00pm and head to the Cabinet headquarters to announce our objection to this law which denies Egyptians their rights," read a statement by the January 25 Revolution Coalition. Similar statements were issued by the Independent Trade Unions Federation, political parties as well as human rights groups, including the Arab Network for Human Rights Information. "This is a bid to foil the revolution," reads one banner being readied for today's protest, expected to be joined by hundreds of university students. The new law, approved by the Cabinet last week, rules that protesters and strikers will be arrested and either face fines ranging from LE30,000 to LE500,000 or prison sentences of at least one year, or both. Even those promoting strikes or protests but not actually participating are subject to imprisonment and fines of up to LE50,000 (around $8,300). It was announced that the law would only be applied in emergencies, similar to the nightly curfew. The New-York-based Human Rights Watch said in a press release that the new law violated international laws protecting freedom of assembly, particularly since its “broad and vague provisions, including the banning of protests that generally ‘obstruct' state institutions, or ‘harm societal peace,' do not meet the narrowly permitted grounds for limits on public assembly under international law”. Authorities have repeatedly complained that continued protests would hamper efforts to get the country back on track. But critics are likely to see the new law as curbing freedom and contradicting the authorities' promise of a free and democratic society.
