In its latest session on Sunday, Egypt’s newly elected parliament has ratified a range of controversial laws that were issued by presidential decree following the inauguration of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president in June 2014. The approved legislation includes the much debated “terrorist entities” law passed in February 2015, reports Ahram Online. The law defines terrorist entities as “any association, organization, group or gang that practices, aims at or calls for destabilizing public order, endangers society’s well-being or its safety interests or endangers social unity by using violence, power, threats or acts of terrorism to achieve its goals.” Met with strong criticism, commentators claim that the law is ambiguous and open to wide interpretation. In response to the issuing of the law, several Egyptian human rights groups, including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and Alhaqanya Center for Law and Legal Profession, published a statement which condemns the law for facilitating repression of oppositional voices and the stifling of civil society. According to the statement, the new legislation “undermines the freedom of peaceful assembly, the freedom to form civic associations and political parties, and freedom of the press, opinion, and…
Egyptian Parliament Ratifies Controversial ‘Terrorist Entities’ Law
January 18, 2016
