The Obama administration has been forced to increase its criticism of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in the wake of a number of attacks on activists and journalists in Egypt. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs addressed the ongoing crackdown.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: “The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society. We would call on all of those prisoners, as we have, to be released immediately. We believe that there has to be a process; that in this process that results in free and fair elections, that the emergency law be lifted, as we’ve talked about many times; that specific constitutional changes are made; and that we take concrete steps, as I’ve said, to — to free and fair elections.”