Abdul Fattah al-Sisi |
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah
al-Sisi has approved stringent new counter-terrorism laws to fight a
growing jihadist insurgency.
The laws establish special courts and
offer additional protection from legal consequences for military and
police officers who have used force.
They also impose the death penalty for anyone found guilty of setting up or leading a terrorist group.
Rights groups say the legislation will be used by Mr Sisi to crush dissent.
Jihadist
groups stepped up their attacks after the military overthrew President
Mohammed Morsi two years ago and launched a deadly crackdown on the
Muslim Brotherhood.
President Sisi vowed to bring in tough new
counter-terrorism legislation in June, following the assassination by
car bomb of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat.
Under the new laws introduced on Monday:
- trials for suspected militants will be fast-tracked through special courts. Anyone found guilty of joining a militant group could face 10 years in prison
- financing terrorist groups will also carry a penalty of life in prison (25 years)
- inciting violence or creating websites deemed to spread terrorist messages will carry sentences of five to seven years
- journalists can be fined between 200,000 and 500,000 Egyptian pounds (£16,300-£41,000; $25,550-$64,000) for contradicting official accounts of militant attacks. The original draft of the law was amended following domestic and international outcry after it initially called for a two-year prison sentence.
Last week, Amnesty International warned
that the legislation would vastly expand powers that would usually only
be invoked during a state of emergency, and that it would effectively
ban the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and
association.
"This
new law will become yet another tool for the authorities to crush all
forms of dissent and steamroll over basic human rights," said the
group's acting Middle East and North Africa director, Said Boumedouha.
Hundreds of members of Egypt's security forces have been killed by militant attacks in the restive Sinai peninsula.
The
insurgency has intensified since Mr Sisi, then commander-in-chief of
the armed forces, ousted Mr Morsi after mass protests against his rule.
The
most active insurgent group - known now as Sinai Province and before
that as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis - has pledged allegiance to the so-called
Islamic State (IS).
Mr Sisi has overseen a crackdown on Islamists
in which hundreds have been killed, tens of thousands detained and
scores sentenced to death, including Mr Morsi.
The government claims that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist group, while it says it is committed to peaceful activism.
In
February, Mr Sisi signed off on anti-terrorism laws that gave
authorities sweeping powers to ban groups on charges ranging from
harming national unity to disrupting public order.
Source: BBC
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