Tantawi defends emergency law

Chairman of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces , currently in power, Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi said on Monday that the emergency law was activated due to the security conditions raging in the country. He added that there is no one in the Council who wishes to activate the law, but that the security conditions forced them to do so. He made a reference to a reported incident were a wife was kidnapped while taking a walk with her husband. He said that the state of emergency will end as soon as possible, provided that security is reinstated and maintained. He called on the people of Egypt as well as the security forces to work together to establish security. The emergency law was set to end on September, however the council decided to elongate the use of the law to an undetermined date against the political will after the storming of the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Both the kidnapping incident and the storming of the embassy took place when the emergency law was active.