Egypt’s cabinet scrapped off the prison punishment an article of the draft anti-terrorism law which addresses the publishing of “false news or data” which contradict official data on “terrorist operations”, on Wednesday. The punishment was amended to a fine ranging from 200 thousand to 500 thousand Egyptian pounds for “publishing false news concerning the armed forces, the police or the security apparatuses,” reported the state news agency MENA. Article 33 of the draft legislation has been the epicentre of criticism since the draft was approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, receiving condemnation from Egypt’s press syndicate and a number of human rights organisations. The cabinet had said that the anti-terrorism law achieves “swift and just deterrence”, whereas the syndicate criticised it for allowing imprisonment in cases related to publishing. Cabinet spokesman Hossam Qawish told MENA the article was cancelled after the cabinet discussed amendments to the draft law proposed by the head of the press syndicate and chief editors of Egyptian newspapers. The amended article was not the only one to receive criticism by the press syndicate, which listed four other articles in the draft law, describing them as…
Penalty for “Spreading False News” Amended in Egypt’s Controversial Anti-Terrorism Law
July 16, 2015
