The Egyptian State Council’s Administrative Court has postponed a hearing in a case where plaintiffs are requesting an end to the use of weapons, live ammunition or teargas in dispersing demonstrations. The court hearing will take place on 28 February, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

The court requested more documents from the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, which filed the lawsuit in November against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the government.

The center called on the Interior Ministry to restrict itself to the use of water cannons for such purposes, accusing it and the military police of violating international and local regulations governing the use of force against demonstrators.

Other rights groups have joined the lawsuit. They include the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Al-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the Institution of Freedom of Thought and Expression and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

“Every citizen has the right to demonstrate,” said ANHRI Director Gamal Eid. “And dispersing demonstrations by force is illegal.”

Eid hoped the lawsuit would redress injustice inflicted on protesters by the military council and the government.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm