Egypt to end emergency law

EGYPT has begun procedures to end the country’s three-decade old state of emergency, the government said yesterday, a key demand of the protesters who toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The cabinet said it would abide by a pledge to end the emergency law, which gave Mubarak’s hated police force sweeping powers to stifle dissent against his rule, before parliamentary elections expected in November.

“The government has decided to start the procedures needed to end the state of emergency, in coordination with the military council,” cabinet spokesman Mohamed Hegazy said.