Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree on Tuesday extending a three-month nationwide state of emergency, in place since April 2017, which will come into effect on January 13. Having first been imposed following the bombing of two churches in April that killed 47 people, and renewed in October, the extension is aimed at curbing “the dangers and funding of terrorism and safeguard[ing] security in all parts of the counfry,” state news service MENA reports. The twin attack on a church in Tanta and another one in Alexandria last year was claimed by the terror sect the Islamic State. The following state of emergency was the first decree of its sort since 2014. According to the Egyptian constitution, emergency law can only be in effect for a period of three months, after which it has to be subject to a renewal decision. Every decision to impose a state of emergency has to be approved by the country’s parliament. The latest measure comes less than a week after gunmen attacked a church in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing nine and injuring several others, which three days later was followed by another armed attack against a liqour store in…
Egypt’s Emergency Law Renewed in Further Extension of State Powers
January 3, 2018
