CAIRO: Egypt will not repeal its infamous Emergency Law until June 2012, according to the Egyptian military. General Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the country's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, announced that the emergency law would continue to be applied until June 2012 because "the incidents which occur now can be described as terrorism." During a telephone call with the evening talk show ‘Al-Hayat Al-Youm,' Shahin said the military council will apply the Emergency Law now so as not to resort to compulsory arrest. He said there are sufficient guarantees for the application of the Emergency Law. Shahin said that the law applies to the thugs and outlaws and that civil police retain the right to arrest people. He said reactivating the Emergency Law will return stability to the country. Ending the Emergency Law, which has been in effect since the assassination of late President Anwar Sadat in 1979, was one of the main demands of activists during the January 25 Revolution that toppled 30-year ruler Hosni Mubarak and his regime. Among other things, the Emergency Law allows for search and arrest without a warrant and prohibits groups of more than five from meeting without prior permission from the Ministry of Interior.
