Egyptian PM says abolishing emergency laws will take time News
Egyptian PM says abolishing emergency laws will take time

[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.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in Six Days' War

On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains a cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

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On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later that day, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was later tasked with leading a commission to investigate the assassination. President Johnson received the final report of the Warren Commission on September 24, 1964. Read the Warren Commission Report.