CAIRO: An Egyptian court ordered the dissolving of the country's former ruling party and the confiscation of its assets Saturday, meeting a major demand of the protest movement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Activists have been pressing Egypt's ruling military to abolish the National Democratic Party, fearing that even after the fall of Mubarak on Feb. 11 – and the arrest of many of its top leaders — remnants of the party could still try to hold power in the country. In particular, the NDP could still have been a powerful contender in the first post-Mubarak parliament elections due in September. The court verdict ordering its dissolving appeared to signal that the military was moving more quickly to meet protesters demands after a dramatic rise in tensions between the two sides. The order came only days after Mubarak and his sons were put under detention for investigation on allegations of corruption and involvement in the killing of protesters. The Supreme Administrative Court announced the verdict, ordering the NDP disbanded and the confiscation of its assets and offices by the state. Lawyers had raised a suit demanding its dissolution, accusing the party of corruption.
