By Walid Fouda
CAIRO (AA) – The Egyptian prosecution on Wednesday remanded 24 activists in custody for four days pending questioning on charges of breaking a just issued law that makes it illegal to organize protests before in-advance security approval.
The activists were arrested when security forces moved in to disperse a protest outside the Shura Council (the upper house of parliament) building in downtown Cairo on Tuesday.
They were calling for an end to the trial of civilians before military courts and urging the 50-member constitution-drafting panel meeting inside the parliament HQ to scrap a proposed article allowing the practice in the new charter.
The panel has endorsed an article allowing military trials for civilians found to have been involved in attacking military property, facilities or vehicles.
According to judicial sources, the arrested protestors face charges of thuggery, assaults on civil servants on duty, possession of bladed weapons and protesting without license.
The prosecution also ordered the arrest of prominent activists Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Ahmed Maher on the same charges.
During the Tuesday protest, demonstrators chanted slogans against the police and the new controversial protest law.
Police used water cannons and teargas to disperse the crowd.
The new law makes it necessary for protest organizers to submit written notification to the Interior Ministry three days prior to staging a demonstration.
It gives the Interior Ministry the right to deny organizers permission if the planned demo was deemed a "threat to security or public safety" or if security conditions were found to be "inappropriate."
According to the law, violators will either be fined or imprisoned – penalties that provoked the ire of many Egyptian politicians and activists who say the legislation curbs freedoms and gives police free rein to bar popular protest.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
