Civil Society

The Muslim Brotherhood Bloc Demands the Cancellation of the Martial Law

By Mohamad Abdel Aziz

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has wasted little time in making use of their increased strength in Egypt’s parliament. With 88 seats, the Brotherhood remains  unable to single handedly block NDP legislation. Nonetheless, they are a prominent entity when it comes to raising issues for debate. Having won their seats as independents on a campaign to fight corruption and demand social justice, many eyes both within Egypt and abroad are fixed on monitoring the group’s performance.

The Brotherhood has demanded to interrogate 11 persons on charges of negligence and corruption, which led to the death of more than 1000 people on the Al Salam ‘98 steamer. The bloc is also attempting to re-open debate on the recent legislative elections, which were marred by widespread fraud and a number of irregularities, as well as outright violations which led to the death of 27 citizens at the hands of police.

Perhaps most importantly, the Brotherhood bloc has vigorously demanded the lifting of martial law No. 25, which was declared in Egypt in 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat. President Mubarak has repeatedly promised to replace this emergency law with anti-terrorism laws, but nothing of the sort has yet been done.

The law contains a number of provisions that obstruct freedom of expression and justice, stripping the normal courts of mandate, and depriving individuals of their right to fair trial. Citizens have often been tried before military tribunals for crimes that have nothing to do with the military order. These military tribunals are void of all gaurantees provided by the ordinary courts, and often their judges are not adequately qualified. Worse still, judges in military courts are not fully independent from the military chain of command.

The imposition of martial law for more than 25 years is a flagrant violation of the Egyptian constitution itself, which clearly indicates that this law is to be used in emergencies, which by nature, can only have a strictly limited duration.       

The government has justified the continuation of martial law on the basis that it is used for combating drug dealers and terrorists.  Hence, it considers the law a vital and permanent instrument for ensuring stability as well as protecting the country from violent crimes. Most political activists and opposition party members scoff at these claims, and blame the moribund nature of political life in Egypt on martial law.

In practice during the 24 years of Mubarak's rule, martial law has been utilized to suppress journalists, political activists, and the Islamic movements—in many cases the Muslim Brotherhood. It is no surprise then that the Brotherhood has seized the opportunity to press this issue.