SCAF orders parliament closing, bans former MPs from entrance

Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) ordered Friday the closing of parliament doors, in line with the verdict of the High Constitutional Court deeming the parliament unconstitutional. Egyptian State-run newspaper Al Ahram reported today that The secretariat of Egypt's parliament received an official notification from Egypt's ruling military council to immediately dissolve the assembly in line with Thursday's High Constitutional Court (HCC) verdict. Parliament's Secretary-General, Sami Mahran, received the notification, which also prohibits everyone except workers and parliamentary reporters from entering the parliament building. On Thursday, the HCC declared Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Law to be unconstitutional. The verdict meant that both the People's Assembly and the Consultative Shura Council (the lower and upper houses of Egypt's parliament) must be dissolved. The HCC on Thursday also cleared former Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shafiq to stand in the Egyptian presidential elections runoffs set to start on Saturday after the court declared a political Disenfranchisement law that could have disqualified him from the race unconstitutional. (QNA)