EGYPT’S INTERIM LEADER GIVES MILITARY GREEN LIGHT TO ARREST CIVILLIANS

Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour has signed a decree giving the military the right to arrest civilians. The move has sparked fears of a further escalation of violence throughout the country.

President Mansour’s decree, allows Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi to give the military power to arrest civilians, was announced in the government's official gazette on Sunday.

This decree is not the first time that Egyptian armed forces have been given the go-ahead to arrest civilians. In June 2012, the previous army-backed interim government tried to issue the same order following the stepping down of former President Hosni Mubarak. The decision was immediately challenged by human rights activists and politicians who accused the military council of reviving an unpopular emergency law that lapsed the previous May. An Egyptian court eventually overturned the justice ministry’s decree.(rt.com)