Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 movement, turns himself in at Abdeen court in Cairo yesterday.
CAIRO: Ahmad Maher, a symbol of the popular uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, turned himself in to the authorities yesterday after an order was issued for his arrest for defying a new law restricting demonstrations.
The protest law, passed a week ago by the army-backed interim government, has provoked an outcry among rights groups. The army deposed elected Islamist president Mohammed Mursi on July 3, following mass protests against his rule, and the country has seen widespread unrest since.
Maher and around 100 supporters made their way to the Abdeen court, chanting: “Down, down with military rule! I’ll write on the prison wall that army rule is shameful and a betrayal!”
Clashes broke out between security forces and activists outside the court after Maher turned himself in. Police fired tear gas and used their batons to disperse the crowd.
Maher will be detained for at least a day one day while his case is investigated, prosecution sources told Reuters.
On Thursday, police arrested activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, also known for his role in the anti-Mubarak uprising. Arrest warrants had been issued for both men after they joined demonstrations outside parliament to defy the protest law.
The new law gives the Interior Ministry the right to ban any meeting of more than 10 people in a public place.
Liberals and activists who backed Mursi’s overthrow are becoming more vocal against the military, which has pursued a crackdown against Islamists in which hundreds have been killed and more than 2,000 arrested.
A top Egyptian official criticised a controversial new protest law that bans all unauthorised demonstrations, saying it should be reviewed, London-based pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq Al Awsat reported yesterday.
Ziad Bahaa Eldin, a deputy prime minister in Egypt’s military-installed government, said he hoped that a consensus could still be reached on the law that has angered secular and pro-democracy activists.
“I personally was not satisfied from the start, and I still have reservations about this law, the way it was proposed and discussed and its timing,” Bahaa Eldin said in an interview with the newspaper.
Bahaa Eldin, a well-known business lawyer and economist who became a deputy prime minister after the ouster of Mursi in July, has emerged as the face of liberal democrats within the cabinet.
His criticism is the first made by a top government official about the law, which the interior ministry has vowed to fully enforce.
“There must be consensus, and it would not be wrong to look again at the law that has triggered protests. It would not be wrong to see what can be done to have a consensus” on it, Bahaa Eldin said.
Last Sunday, Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour approved the controversial law that requires organisers to seek authorisation three days ahead of any planned demonstration. Permission can be denied if the event is deemed as a threat to national security.
AFP
