Egypt’s parliament passed on Monday a bill aimed to curb illegal immigration from the country’s coasts, with 402 votes in favor of the legislation. According to the new law, anyone found guilty of smuggling, attempting to smuggle, or otherwise aiding in the process of smuggling migrants will be penalized with a fine ranging between EGP 50,000 and EGP 200,000. The bill also stipulates that these criminals will be imprisoned for their actions but does not specify a range for the imprisonment period. Meanwhile, those who cause the death of a migrant while smuggling them, smuggle women and children, or smuggle migrants with the aim of carrying out a terrorist attack will be sentenced to death. “This is the first law on smuggling of migrants in the Middle East,” Reuters quoted Naela Gabr, head of the National Coordinating Committee on Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration, as saying. The approval of the bill comes less than one month after a migrant boat carrying as many as 600 people capsized in the Mediterranean, off Egypt’s north coast, on its way to European shores. The boat set sail from Egypt’s north coast early on…
