Egypt’s Dilemma: The Price to Pay for The Rule of Law

No other current event has garnered as much press and concern from the international community as the mass popular protests against the Mubarak regime in Egypt. The string of recent uprisings in the Middle East reminds us of the wildfire spread of revolutions across the nations of the Eastern European bloc in 1989. Egyptian protesters, emboldened by the successful overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, have organized massive demonstrations in several key cities in Egypt, demanding reform and President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate and unconditional surrender of power. Many factors have contributed to the recent uprising in Egypt, including the country’s many economic and social ills, yet one of the root causes for public grievance lies with the major shortcomings of Egypt’s legal system itself.

Following the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, Egypt has been under permanent state Emergency Law that has limited political expression and dissent. [1] On May 11, 2011, Egypt’s parliament, dominated by President Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, voted to extend the Emergency Law active since 1981 for two more years. Although the official reason for the extension was to curtail terrorism and drug trafficking, the Emergency Law effectively gives the government the right to arrest “people without charge, detain prisoners indefinitely, limit freedom of expression and assembly, and maintain a special security court .” [2] Michael Scheinin – the UN’s…

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Diaoyu or Senkaku? The Volatile Sovereignty Dispute between China and Japan

Much has been discussed in recent media about the deteriorating relations between two economic giants in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan and China, over the sovereignty of a group of uninhabited islands known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese and Senkaku Islands in Japanese.  They are composed of five small volcanic islands and three rocky outcroppings, all lying between Taiwan and the island of Okinawa.  The islands have little economic value, home only to certain species of moles and domestic sheep, although there are rich amounts of fish and oil and gas deposits in both the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone. Despite the complex relationship between China and Taiwan, both governments agree that the islands belong to Taiwan.

Dispute over the islands culminated into diplomatic war on September 7, 2010, when a Japanese Coast Guard Patrol Boat found a Chinese trawler travelling 12 km northwest of the islands, which is claimed by Japan as within its territorial waters.  The ship’s crew and captain were arrested by the patrol boat and detained by Japan to be prosecuted under Japanese domestic law.

The move infuriated Beijing and diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated.  It sparked public outrage as anti-Japanese protests were held in various cities across China.  The same occurred in Japan, where thousands of Japanese demonstrators protested in Yokohama as Chinese President Hu Jin Tao arrived in the city…

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