Egyptian court: Army can't arrest civilians

In what appears to be a setback for military rulers in Egypt, a court ruled against a decree allowing the army to arrest citizens. Activists say this ruling supports the country's constitution.  

|
AP Photo/Amr Nabil
In this file photo, thousands of Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi supporters gather in Tahrir Square, the focal point of Egyptian uprising, in Cairo, Egypt, before Morsi's election last Sunday. An Egyptian court determined that the army may not arrest civilians.

An Egyptian court on Tuesday overturned a government decree allowing the army to arrest civilians, a setback for military rulers preparing to hand power to an elected president.

The army-backed interim government issued the decree days before a tense presidential run-off vote on June 16-17 to give soldiers the power to detain people during street disturbances.

But rights groups and politicians challenged the decision, accusing the military of reviving emergency powers that stymied opposition to Hosni Mubarak until a popular uprising ended his three-decade rule in February last year.

On Tuesday, a court agreed with them.

"The court declares in its ruling that the Minister of Justice raped the authority bestowed by the constitution by issuing a decision to give members of the military police and military intelligence powers of arrest," a document from the Cairo court explaining Judge Ali Fikry's ruling read.

The Justice Ministry has the right to appeal the administrative court's ruling, which is effective immediately.

The original decree restored the military's mandate to enforce law and order before a new constitution is written - a process expected to last well beyond the July 1 date by which the ruling military council is due to hand power to president-elect Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The army has already curbed Mursi's power by dismissing parliament and assuming greater control over the drafting of the new constitution. His authority remains subject to back-room negotiations with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

"This ruling not only adheres to the constitution," said Gamal Eid, a lawyer and rights activist. "It chimes with the current political climate because many people feel the military council is trying to suppress the civil direction in which the state is supposed to be heading."

The Mubarak-era state of emergency was ostensibly invoked to deal with terrorism and drug offences, but gave the security forces sweeping powers of search and arrest, leaving citizens with little protection from police who chose to abuse that mandate.

The military generals who took power when Mubarak stepped aside vowed to scrap the emergency law but then kept it in place for most of their rule, using it to arrest thousands of civilians and subject them to military trials.

During Mubarak's time, the law was used repeatedly to arrest members of the Brotherhood, his long-time adversary.

One of those was Mursi, who triumphed over Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafik in this month's run-off vote, sealing the Islamist movement's dramatic rise from political isolation to the heart of power.

(Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Egyptian court: Army can't arrest civilians
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/0626/Egyptian-court-Army-can-t-arrest-civilians
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe