Cairo:
Egypt's military command said on Monday that the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, was prohibited from leaving the country, and that it would soon lift a detested emergency law, among a number of announcements seemingly intended to shore up diminishing support for the armed forces council ruling the nation.
Members of the military command held a news conference at the Armed Forces Media Centre in the Heliopolis district to announce its decision that parliamentary elections would be held in September, meeting the demands of some opposition leaders who wanted more time to organize political parties. Egypt's presidential election, originally scheduled for August, would also be postponed, but the military did not announce a new date.
Military leaders used the event to venture into a variety of other issues, including making a statement -- the first by the military itself -- that Mr. Mubarak was not allowed to leave the country, even for medical tests.
There have been reports that he had fled to Saudi Arabia, which have stirred public resentment against the military. The military says Mr. Mubarak has been staying in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheik.
"People have been feeling a bit deceived about the revolution," said Hossam Issa, a law professor at Ain Shams University, reflecting an opinion that has gained greater currency in recent days. "People have been meeting everywhere to discuss what is to be done, and these announcements will cut short another million-man march."
The military command, which has ruled Egypt by decree since Mr. Mubarak was forced from power by a popular uprising, is also facing repeated charges that it has resorted to the kind of brutal and degrading police tactics used during Mr. Mubarak's tenure.
Protesters taken into custody by the military have described being subject to torture and unfair trials. Woman held by the military have said they were subjected to so-called virginity tests -- involving physical examinations -- while in custody.
Dressed in their olive-green uniforms, the military representatives of the secretive ruling council said any charges of abuse would be investigated, while insisting that most of the accusations were the result of rumours.
"The Supreme Council's task, which started on Feb. 11, has not changed: the armed forces protects the revolution, defends it -- we are with the revolution, we support it and take a lot of measures for it to succeed," said Gen. Ismail Etman, the military spokesman.
The decision to hold parliamentary elections in September, rather than June, partly addresses a demand of new parties, which wanted more time to prepare to compete with the established Muslim Brotherhood and the remnants of the ruling National Democratic Party.
The military council also said it had adopted a relatively liberal election law that preserved the ban on religious parties, but would still allow groups like the Brotherhood to form parties that do not limit membership based on religion and have a nonreligious platform. The Brotherhood would have to remove from its platform a prohibition against two groups serving as president: Coptic Christians and women.
The council also reduced the nightly curfew to three hours, from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., another bid to respond to growing public frustration with the restrictions of post-revolution life.
The council's representative also repeated an earlier promise that before the coming elections it would lift the emergency law -- which allows arrest and detention without charge -- a statement that observers said was nonbinding but would be important if carried out.
"The value of lifting the state of emergency is political and practical; it will send a message in that Egypt is on its way to becoming a normal country after three decades of rule by exceptional police powers," said Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
From the moment the military rolled into Tahrir Square, it has presented itself as an institution of the people, in support of change. But in recent days, its intentions have become the source of speculation and anxiety. Some of its decisions have raised concerns -- especially among the secular youth who inspired the uprising -- that it has some kind of arrangement with the Muslim Brotherhood to share power and restore order to the street.
It denied any such arrangement as it tried to regain some of its earlier prestige as an institution committed to embracing the will of the people, rather than a force aimed at preserving and restoring the status quo.
"We are accused of being with the Brotherhood; we are not with anyone in particular," General Etman said. "We are with Egypt. We are with the people."
But for some critics, it was a bit too little, a bit too late.
"They did not say anything new," said Sally Moore, a leftist activist and member of the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth from Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. She added: "For people who are critical of them, this will change nothing, and for people who support them, this will just make them support them more."
After the news briefing, the military command posted a statement on its Facebook page, its preferred manner of releasing information these days.
It concluded with an appeal "not to believe rumours and to repeat them which only serve the enemies of the revolution and spread chaos during these historical moments that our country is undergoing. There is a bigger need for us all to join hands and be united so that we can achieve the required stability for a better future."
The military said that its next step, in the next day or two, would be to release a temporary constitution, one that is now being drafted by a committee to combine elements of the old constitution with amendments passed in a referendum by voters. That document would serve as the guiding principles for the nation until one year after the election of a new president, when a new constitution could be drafted.
"What we are giving is freedom," Lt. Col. Yasser Attia said. "It's a step on the escalator of political freedom."