Egypt passes new anti-terrorism law

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has approved stringent new counter-terrorism laws to fight growing insurgency in the country, a media report said on Monday.

It also shields those applying it, such as the military and police, from legal ramifications for the proportionate use of force “in performing their duties”.

Human rights groups voiced their opposition to the new legislation, pointing out it will be used to crush dissent and would choke independent media coverage of emerging terror groups.

Egypt has been facing the problem of Islamist insurgency since the past two years that aim to topple Sisi’s government.

Al-Sissi promised harsh new laws to ensure that terrorists would be brought to justice quickly in the aftermath of the assassination in June of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat.

The 54-article law, published on state news agency MENA, provides an extremely broad definition of terrorism, describing it in one article as any act that disturbs public order with force.

Forming or leading a group deemed a “terrorist entity” by the government will be punishable by death or life in prison.

The original draft of the law called for jail terms for journalists, but the bill was amended after an outcry from the main journalist body in the Arab country.

Sisi has since overseen a crackdown against his political rivals with thousands of activists and Islamist supporters jailed and scores sentenced to death, including the former president and other senior figures.

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 militant group.

The government claims that the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. The Brotherhood says it is committed to peaceful protest.