The Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, a state-run human rights group, announced on Wednesday it is in the process of preparing new guidelines for the upcoming People’s Assembly elections to be held in the fall.
The guidelines stipulate that election-related complaints must be immediately investigated and includes a plan to grant more permits for NGOs to monitor polling stations.
The statement went on to provide details of a meeting on Tuesday between US Ambassador to Egypt Maragert Scobey and Council Vice-Chairman Moqbel Shaker.
Shaker highlighted the important role played by the Council during May’s Shura Council elections, and said the Council had recently formed a special unit to help facilitate the upcoming elections, and allowing NGOs to supervise them. Shaker added that the council has also set up its own operations room to monitor elections.
According to the statement, Scobey and Shaker also discussed the Emergency Law which was extended last May. Shaker stressed that while the Council has always been opposed to the law, it still welcomed the government’s recent decision to limit the law’s application to terrorism and drug cases, calling this move “a positive step forward”.
Scobey and Shaker also discussed the death of Khalid Saeed, the Alexandrian teen allegedly beaten to death by police weeks ago. Shaker noted that the case was under review by the Egyptian Attorney General.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
