Egypt’s 2010 Elections in the Western Media Escalating harassments of MB
November 21, 2010
7 minutes read

Amnesty calls on regime to respect oppositions right to campaign

Amnesty International criticized fresh restrictions by Egypt’s authorities on political opposition and called on them to end assaults by security on parliament candidates.

The call comes after tensions rose during campaigning by the Muslim Brotherhood who took to the streets to publicize their political platform arresting over 300 and injuring many.

Amnesty’s warning sheds light on claims by Egyptian rights groups that the legislative election starting on November 28 is unlikely to be fair.

Malcolm Smart the rights group’s Middle East director argued that voters should be protected at the ballot boxes by security rather than being intimidated and harassed by them.

A 28-page report has been documented by Amnesty since Friday recording the crackdown on opposition activity in the run-up to the election listing procedures by the authorities to restrict public access. Information, with newspaper articles deemed politically sensitive are also being seized or destroyed and a dozen Egyptian satellite television channels have allegedly been suspended on the grounds that licenses have expired.

According to Amnesty the levels of human rights abuses during November’s elections appear to be an indication of what may follow next year when the new presidential elections will be held.

Calls were also made by Amnesty urging the government to abandon its 3 decade old emergency law which has been in force since President Mubarak assumed power the targeting mainly the MB and recently renewed earlier this year.