crackdown

Police have arrested an estimated 28 activists and young members of several political parties in a sweeping security crackdown across several governorates. According to rights lawyer Khaled Ali the arrests took place over 10 governorates, with charges relating to the sharing of posts critical of the government on social networking sites, particularly Facebook. According to opposition, and Human Right protection’s organisation it is an other attempt to speech freedom in the country. The arrests come as Parliament is discussing a bill to further criminalize criticism of the president or comments deemed insulting to the Egyptian state. Rights organizations have called nationwide campaign targeting political activists an attempt by the state to further consolidate its powers and to curtail criticism.