The Egyptian interim cabinet headed by Essam Sharaf approved Wednesday a law criminalizing strikes and protests with penalties of up to one year's imprisonment, state media reported, dpa reported.
The law allows for those participating in any protest which "disrupts private or public work" to be imprisoned for one year or fined up to 500,000 Egyptian pounds (84,000 dollars).
The law, which is subject to approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, is to stay in effect for as long as the country remains in a state of emergency, state-run website Egynews reported.
The new law has already been blasted by activists, who say the military is trying to prevent people from demonstrating against emergency law and the abuse of protesters.
Egypt's military, in charge of the country since former president Hosny Mubarak's ouster last month, has been condemned by rights groups for its use of violence against protesters and torture of detainees in recent weeks.
A gag order has also been placed on Egyptian media, which has done very little reporting of the military's transgressions.
The cabinet also agreed on a separate law Wednesday which creates an initial framework for the formation of new political parties.
According to the framework, a judiciary committee would be created to oversee the formation of political parties and ensure they abide by legal regulations, such as the ban on parties based on religion.
New parties would declare their formation to a the committee, which would then have 30 days to voice any objection to their formation.
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