[JURIST] Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif [Wikipedia profile] told newly-appointed US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes Monday that his government plans to lift the state of emergency [EOHR backgrounder] that has been in place in the country for 24 years. Nazif told Hughes that the process would "take some time because it involves legal and constitutional challenges" but said that his government was committed to lifting the restrictive law. Newly re-elected [JURIST report] Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak [official profile] and other candidates made campaign promises to end the state of emergency [JURIST report], which he imposed in October 1981 following the assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat [Wikipedia profile]. Mubarak promised to replace the state of emergency with laws that place fewer restrictions on civil liberties. Hughes, a longtime Bush advisor, was on a tour of Egypt [JURIST news archive] as part of a plan to improve the image of America in the Arab world. AFP has more.