On 17 August 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi approved an anti-terrorism law that, from the outset, was heavily condemned by local and international rights groups.
The new law, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), imposes fines ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$25,500 to US$64,000) for publishing “false news or statements” about terrorist acts, or issuing reports that contradict accounts by the Egyptian Ministry of Defense.
The law also imposes a minimum of five years in prison for the “promotion, directly or indirectly, of any perpetration of terrorist crimes, verbally or in writing or by any other means.”
“As of today, journalists are legally prohibited from investigating, verifying, and reporting on one of the most important matters of public interest,” said CPJ Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour.
The Egyptian government effectively made itself today the only permissible source of news on terrorism https://t.co/xkTNH5z1L7
— CPJ MENA (@cpjmena) August 17, 2015
Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) Gamal Eid took to Twitter to put things in perspective for Egypt’s citizenry.
اصبح لدينا قانون مؤكد للارهاب في مصر الان
اصبح لدينا 90مليون متهم محتمل بالارهاب الان ،،
لم يعد لدينا ملامح للدولة المدنية في مصر الان.
— Gamal Eid (@gamaleid) August 17, 2015
Translation – We now have a definite law for terrorism in Egypt, we now have 90 million citizens who are potential alleged terrorists, the features of a civil state don’t exist in Egypt anymore.
Reporters Without Borders also released a statement on the subject. Its secretary-general Christopher Deloire was quoted saying:
“Egyptians are entering an Orwellian world in which only the government is allowed to say what is happening. Even in countries where freedom of information is highly restricted, laws rarely suppress pluralism so blatantly.”
While Egyptian civil society groups have been demanding that the law be reevaluated for months now, their calls have largely fallen on deaf ears. Almost one month prior to the passing of the law, ANHRI, along with its fellow IFEX members, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), and 20 other Egyptian organisations, issued a joint statement warning of the dangerous ramifications of the law.
“The proposed law makes us fear for the collapse of the state itself as it sacrifices the constitution, well-established legal precepts, and the esteemed Egyptian judicial system,” it said.
The Sisi administration claims that the law will halt the terrorist attacks ravaging some parts of Egypt, namely the increasingly unstable Sinai peninsula. Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch, addressed that claim in a tweet yesterday.
It doesn’t help fight terrorism for Egypt Pres Sisi to close off peaceful avenues of dissent. http://t.co/41q2YlhFXJ pic.twitter.com/UdYOTL6oqN
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 17, 2015
CPJ’s Sherif Mansour also took to Twitter to mock what he dubbed “Sisi’s logic”.
منطق السيسي: احنا عندنا ارهاب فظيييعععع .. بس احنا مش هنحارب الارهاب .. احنا حنحارب اللى بيقول ان احنا مش بنحارب الارهاب ..
— Sherif Mansour (@sherifmnsour) August 17, 2015
Translation – Sisi’s logic: We face a terrible terrorism crisis… but we won’t fight the terrorism… we shall instead fight those who say that we aren’t fighting terrorism.
Mansour continued to question the logic behind the controversial piece of legislation in a second tweet posted along with a link to the official text of the law.
قانون مكافحة الإرهاب من 38 صفحة كلها حقوق للحكومة تعمل اللى هيا عايزاه بدون رقيب او حسيب ، طب بتعملوا قانون ليه… http://t.co/4Y5l9R2SKu
— Sherif Mansour (@sherifmnsour) August 17, 2015
Translation: The anti-terrorism law is 38 pages long, all full of rights afforded to the government for it to do whatever it pleases without liability. So why do you need to write a law in the first place then?
The law was ratified in the absence of an elected parliament. In other words, without accountability.
The International Press Institute published a statement blasting the law and offering recommendations to the government.
#Egypt should clearly define terms such as “terrorism”, offering “support for terrorism” http://t.co/4LUa35MDEx #IPIRecs #4/12
— IPI (@globalfreemedia) September 2, 2015
According to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, since his official inauguration as president last year, Sisi has issued more than 175 new laws unhampered. Parliamentary elections were scheduled to take place in March 2015 and then April 2015. It was later announced they would take place in September and then, yet again, postponed to October and November 2015.
Unfortunately, and despite Sisi’s many policies claiming to fight terrorism, attacks in Egypt have been on the rise since the ex-military chief took office.
