Under pressure from militant insurgency, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has boosted police and judicial powers with a new anti-terrorism law that also imposes hefty fines for “false” media reports.
Rights groups, who have accused Sisi of imposing a repressive regime since the army’s ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, fear the new law could be used to further muzzle dissent and target critics.
The law was ratified by Sisi on Sunday, as Egypt faces a growing wave of deadly attacks, led by the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group, on security forces and civilians.
The government sped up the passage of the law after state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a car bombing in late June, followed by a large-scale attack in the Sinai Peninsula days later.
It shields security forces from prosecution if they use force “when facing a real and imminent threat” while implementing the law.
It imposes the death penalty for those convicted of leading or financing “terrorist groups” and prison terms for those found guilty of inciting “a terrorist act”.
Egypt’s judiciary and security forces already had wide-ranging powers in tackling “terrorism” and Sisi’s regime has been accused of using the battle against militants as a pretext for crushing dissent.
At least 1,400 people, many of them supporters of Morsi, have been killed in a crackdown on protests after his overthrow. Hundreds of Morsi backers have been sentenced to death after speedy trials and thousands more jailed.
The new law also targets the media, imposing fines for journalists found to be reporting information that contradicts official statements on militant attacks.
The military was infuriated after media, quoting security officials, reported that dozens of troops had been killed in the Sinai attack days after the prosecutor’s murder. The military’s official death toll was 21 soldiers and scores of militants.
The new law sets fines from 200,000 to 500,000 Egyptian pounds ($25,500 to $64,000/23,000 to 57,000 euros) for journalists who stray from government statements in publishing or spreading “false” reports on attacks or security operations against militants.
