President Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has not responded to the ruling The majority of political forces in Egypt have denounced a ruling by the country’s public prosecutor, calling for police to grant civilians power of citizen’s arrest amid tense security conditions.
National Salvation Front (NSF) representative Mohammed al-Orabi said the powers would only heighten tensions on Egypt’s streets, leading to an increase in violence and vigilantism.
Orabi claimed the decision made a civil war more likely in Egypt, allowing for the proliferation of armed militants in public places.
Gamal Eid, chairman of the Arabic Network for Human Rights, told Arabstoday: “Even though the ruling is consistent with Egyptian law and its constitution, this could lead to citizens exercising their right to demonstrate being arrest under the pretext of sabotage or spreading chaos.”
President of the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession Nasser Amin meanwhile claimed he was considering taken legal action against President Mohammed Morsi’s administration, possibly at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“This ruling is the regime’s way of committing crimes against humanity through the militias that support it,” he said. “That is an international crime.”
In a Twitter posting on Monday, Amin equated the prosecutor’s decision with civil wars in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the Congo.
Wafd Party member Essam Shiha meanwhile claimed the new citizen’s arrest powers in fact contravened Egyptian law.
“This law needs to be cancelled, or else fighting will spread across Egypt.”
President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is yet to comment on the ruling.