Egypt

[bimbim]

Egypt has been under a state of emergency for 25 years & the govt. has just decried another 2 ,see
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/793/fr1.htm. is it possible that Egypt's supprt for the U.S. is the reason we here nothing about this in the "free world" ?

[kempie]

This from Wikipedia:

Egyptians have been living under an Emergency Law (Law No. 162 of 1958) since 1967, except for an 18-month break in 1980.

The emergency was imposed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and reimposed following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

The law has been continuously extended every three years since 1981. Under the law, police powers are extended, constitutional rights suspended and censorship is legalized.

The law sharply circumscribes any non-governmental political activity: street demonstrations, non-approved political organizations, and unregistered financial donations are formally banned.

Some 17,000 people are detained under the law, and estimates of political prisoners run as high as 30,000.

I was unaware of this being kept a secret from the "free world".

[Zen]

Reads like the way the UK is headed under New labour.

[jno]

fair enough kempie but it doesn't seem to make the newspapers as much as the authoritarianism in Zimbabwe, North Korea or (supposedly) Iran, for instance. The USA is noticeably more tolerant of bad behaviour by its friends such as Egypt, Israel and (until last week) Russia, mainly because these countries have been able since 9/11 to say 'But it's because we are fighting the war against terror, like you'.

Oh, and the fascist British regime too of course.

[bimbim]

exactly my point jno, i mentioned this to a reasonably well informed friend the other day , he'd never heard any of it .

[PhilBy]

No secret cover up ..................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4973856.stm

[Englishbird]

The Egyptian President, Mubarak, gets very good press in the western world, he's recieved many 'Peace' awards globally and in Egypt. But Egypt also has democratic elections and he has been consistently re-elected since 1981. I have spoken to some normal Egyptian's about various politics as I was there when there was a bombing two years ago. The ordinary men love him, and they are also incredibly patriotic. On paper the information that Kempie has posted may sound controlling to us, but it seems to work for the people it affects. The people I spoke to have far more respect for him than we do for our entire government. (not that our government have done anything to earn our respect)

[Whickerman]

Would it be a shock to discover that the USA is under a similar state and has been since WW2? It allows the fedaral govt some extra powers that they've never been willing to rescind.

Also I was in Cairo when GWB launched the attack on Iraq. The Egyptian government may be supporters of the US - they know which side they're bread's buttered on - but I can tell you that the scenes on the streets tell a different story for the people. Englishbird is correct though - the people there are great admirers of Mubarak, but i'd question whether any of the elections were actually free and fair - Human Rights watch don't seem to think so: http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast&c=egypt

[Whickerman]

Just incase you're interested - the USA state of emergency link:

http://www.barefootsworld.net/war_ep1.html

just scroll down past the front page. BTW - I was incorrect in my last post, they've been in force since 1933, not ww2.