By: http://mwcnews.net
Source: http://mwcnews.net/
Egypt’s Cabinet spokesman has announced that the country’s three-month-old state of emergency is ending on Tuesday after a court ruling.
A Cairo court ruled earlier in the day that the state of emergency expires on Tuesday, November 12, two days earlier than the interior minister said it would end.
The discrepancy came because while the state of emergency began on August 14, it was renewed for two months on September 12.
The court said that means it ends on November 12, not November 14.
The state of emergency was imposed after a deadly crackdown by security forces on protest camps set up by supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown by the military on July 3 following mass rallies against his rule.
The state of the emergency allowed the authorities to make arrests without warrants and gave security officials the right to search people’s homes.
The end of the state of emergency would mean the end of the 01:00-05:00 curfew also in place. The Cabinet spokesman said that the government would abide by the ruling, but was waiting for the court to issue the decision in writing.
It was not clear how long that would take.
Ongoing protests
The decision comes despite the continued protests in different parts of the country.
On Tuesday, student supporters of Morsi rallied at the university in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters, witnesses said.
Egypt has seen a wave of demonstrations and violence since the army-led overthrow of Morsi.
Hundreds have been killed, mostly Morsi supporters, as well as about 100 security officers.
Morsi has been held in a secret location since his removal, and was transferred to a high-security prison in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria after the opening session of his trial on November 4.
He has so far declined legal representation and wanted to defend himself.
Morsi’s son said his father was meeting on Tuesday with a team of lawyers who sought to defend him in his ongoing trial on charges of inciting murder.
The deposed leader, who has not yet agreed to let the team represent him, wanted to discuss with them taking legal action against others, his son said.