Egypts Sisi approves anti terrorism law creating special courts -...

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved an anti-terrorism law that sets up special courts and protects its enforcers in the face of a two-year-long Islamist insurgency that aims to topple his government.

The law has come under fire from human rights groups who accuse Sisi, who as military chief deposed a freely elected Islamist president in 2013, of rolling back freedoms won in the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Approved on Sunday, the law details sentences for various terrorism crimes ranging from five years to the death penalty. It also shields those applying it, such as the military and police, from legal ramifications for what it calls the proportionate use of force "in performing their duties".

Sisi had promised a tougher legal system in July after a car bomb attack in Cairo that killed the chief public prosecutor, the highest ranking state official to be killed in years.

The law, as reported by state media, said special courts would "fast-track" terrorism cases but gave no further detail, such as whether trials would be open or closed to the public.

Forming or leading a group deemed a "terrorist entity" by the government will be punishable by death or life in prison under the new law, and membership in such a group will carry up to 10 years in jail.

Financing "terrorist groups" will bring a penalty of life in prison, which in Egypt is 25 years. Inciting violence, which includes "promoting ideas that call for violence", will lead to 5-7 years in jail, as would creating or using websites that spread such ideas.

Journalists will be fined for contradicting the authorities' version of any militant attack. The original draft of the law was amended following a domestic and international outcry after it initially stipulated imprisonment for such an offence.

REUTERS

Egypt's Sisi approves anti-terrorism law creating special courts