Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the UN nuclear watchdog who came back to Egypt to push for wider reforms, slammed Saturday the detention of eight activists for collecting signatures to force the Government to amend the constitution. "It seems collecting signatures is considered an act of terror according to the Emergency Law now in force in Egypt," ElBaradei said saturday on his personal account at the social networking website Twitter. El-Baradei, who returned Egypt earlier this year and formed the National Coalition for Change, added that the Egyptian regime was blocking the way against the peaceful change. Last week, the State Security police detained eight members of ElBaradei's coalition for asking people on the Internet to sign a document calling of the Government to change the Constitution in order to give chance for judicial supervision of elections and let independent candidates to run in the presidential elections, due next year. ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate, criticised a recent decision by the Government to extend the Emergency Law in Egypt for two more years as against the will of the Egyptians. He stressed that while he agreed that terrorism must be fought to ensure security, he refused to use that as an excuse to suppress political freedoms". Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif hailed ElBardei as a "respected man" who has the right to join any political party in Egypt. "However, he should not try to change the whole rules of the political game in order to serve himself. This could lead to instability," Nazif told editors of independent newspapers on Thursday. ElBaradei, 67, took the country by storm when he returned in February after 30 years abroad. Hundreds welcomed him at the airport while large crowds greeted him on two subsequent tours, one in Cairo and another one in the northern city of Mansoura. About 250,000 people have joined a Facebook group supporting his possible bid for the presidency. Mr ElBaradei responded to people who had called for him to run for president in elections next year with demands for political reform, including a constitutional amendment so independents like him can run.
