Egypt's State of Emergency: taking it to a new level

NDP MPs called for the use of live ammunition against pro-democracy demonstrators, namely the April 6 youth movement and other blogger activists, ratcheting up the discourse of violence in the run-up to the 2010 presidential election.

NDP parliamentarians also singled out the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) as being among the "motivators" of instability and "agents" of western powers in an attempt to defame and intimidate the organisation amid its attempts to legally register a demonstration by the April 6 youth movement.

Egypt's ruling NDP is accused by international civil society, of attempting to discredit pro-democracy activists and organisations that promote freedom of expression.

In their press release, ANHRI placed these new threats and instigations as a revelation of the very essence of Egypt's decades-old state of emergency. According to the press release, this new aggressive attack on the pro-democracy movement "finally unveils the real face of the State of Emergency" which has often been justified in the context of the international fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.