Egypt’s Vague Anti-Terrorism Laws Threaten Basic Human Rights – HRW

Meanwhile, the US State Department warned the new law may amount to further human rights violations, but nevertheless expressed support for Egypt’s security and stability.

The New York-based group says the law, passed by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last weekend, gives prosecutors greater power to detain suspects without judicial review and order wide-ranging and potentially indefinite surveillance of terror suspects without a court order.

“With this sweeping new decree, Egypt’s president has taken a big step toward enshrining a permanent state of emergency as the law of the land”, HRW’s Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director Nadim Houry said.

“Egypt’s new anti-terrorism law could have a significant detrimental impact on human rights and fundamental freedoms, including due process safeguards, freedom of association, and freedom of expression”, he told reporters at a regular press briefing.

Egypt is “at war with terrorism, and these new laws are very good and necessary”, Father Rafic Greiche told AsiaNews.

The organization claims that this definition far exceeds the definition adopted by the United Nations Security Council in 2004, adding also that the new law counters the basic idea of global human rights law that requires legislation to be precisely written so as to avoid its arbitrary use in prosecuting a crime.

Ties between Cairo and Washington, long-time close allies, soured following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

He also echoed comments made by Secretary of State John Kerry at a strategic dialogue in Cairo earlier this month, where Kerry called for finding an equilibrium between counterterrorism and preserving human rights. Many argue that, while there is no longer the risk of imprisonment, a large fine for contradicting official accounts of militant attacks is too high of a burden on many of Egypt’s journalists. That is a lesser punishment than a draft version that included possible jail sentences for journalists.

The journalists, along with Al-Jazeera, have repeatedly insisted they were doing their jobs reporting the news.

The ant-terrorism law was finalized amid a wave of attacks and killings this summer, including the assassination of Egypt’s attorney general by a vehicle bomb in Cairo. Fahmy, who is free on bail, is now awaiting the new verdict, now scheduled to be handed down on August. 29.