From the Daily News Egypt:
The People’s Assembly’s (PA) legislative committee passed a new draft law filed by the government forbidding demonstrations inside places of worship, Hamdy Hassan, PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood told Daily News Egypt.
However, Hassan believes that the new law is “against freedom of expression,” adding that the Egyptian government regularly puts restrictions on freedom of expression through any possible means.
“The government does not even allow protests inside closed meetings between political parties,” Hassan said.
The law, according to Hassan, was drafted specifically to disallow “the demonstrations that usually take place after Friday prayers especially inside Al-Azhar mosque.”
Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), echoed Hassan’s opinion. He told Daily News Egypt that the new law “certainly limits freedom of expression.”
“Our stand on this law as a human rights organization is clear as we are against any law or regulation that goes against the public’s right to stage a peaceful protest expressing their point of view as long as those protests do not involve assaults on any private or public property or individuals,” Abu Saeda said.
He added that the government failed to provide “a justification for why it came up with such a law.”
“For so many years Al-Azhar mosque was the place where many peaceful protests were staged against events that took place both inside and outside Egypt,” Abu Saeda explained, adding that this law is aimed at putting a stop to Al-Azhar demonstrations.
In other news, Al-Masry Al-Youm leaked clauses of the new Counterterrorism Law to be enacted by the Parliament. And what’s the Muslim Brotherhood leaders’ reaction, in the midst of the police crackdowns and military tribunals? Ali Greisha, a leading MB member said that “the law would not affect MB work and called on President Mubarak to start a truce with this group, saying that MB would promise not to challenge the regime in return for liberty of movement and expression.”
Mr. Greisha wake up and spare us this crap. Hosni is not gonna listen to you, as he never listened to you before nor to anyone else. Hosni listens only to his masters in Washington DC and Europe or when he feels he’s about to be dethroned by street pressure. So please stop this regime-ass-kissing parade and start mobilizing in the streets.