Egypt: two parliament members opposing the war released

The Egyptian authorities on Sunday released 28 persons including two opposition members of parliament who were arrested over their participation and provoking of demonstration against the war on Iraq, according to an Egyptian judicial source.

Hamdeen Sabahi and Muhammad Fareed Hasanin, two parliament members for the Naserite leftist party, were put in custody since March 23rd and they were released after they paid a guarantee of 9 dollars. Also released other 26 Egyptians who were arrested last week after meeting the guarantee.

According to the Egyptian authorities 88 Egyptians were arrested during demonstrations against the war on Iraq in Egypt and that only 19 of them are still in custody; a figure which is not accepted by the human rights organizations which says that number of the detainees is 800.

The emergency law reinforced in Egypt since 1981 bans demonstrations and aggregations without a license on roads and public places, but this law keeps a blind eye on aggregations inside mosques or University complexes.