Cairo: 5 July 2020
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has released an observational study of the most important anti-freedom laws enacted during the period from 2013 to 2020, transforming Egypt from a country that seeks democracy, after the overthrow of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak in the January 2011 Revolution, to a country of fear in 2020, which is devoid of justice and the rule of law.
The study, entitled “Legislations of Darkness… Examples of fear laws from June 2013 to June 2020“, includes examples of 25 laws that curb the Egyptians’ rights and freedoms. These legislations started from Law No. 107 of 2013 on the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations, which was issued by Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour in 2013 violating the right to peaceful protest and leading to the imprisonment of hundreds, if not thousands, of citizens, till the Terrorism Entities Law No. 14/2020, which echoes the many other laws related to terrorism, as it abounds with loose terminology and vaguely-worded accusations making every citizen be easily vulnerable to prosecution on a terrorism charge.
It is therefore not surprising that these restrictive laws deal with almost all, and the most important, social groups within the country and don’t spare the most basic and fundamental rights pertaining to freedoms of citizens.
ANHRI believes that apart from the manifold laws which purportedly appear to be related to the fight against terrorism while they actually aim at curtailing citizens’ rights and freedoms, the government has passed other laws to crack down on the civil society, limit the independence of the judiciary, and to keep a tight rein on the press and media. This is in addition to the laws that undermine the independence of universities and the freedom to use the Internet and that worsen the prisons conditions, not to mention the laws that undermine the right to peaceful protest as one of the basic forms of freedom of expression in Egypt.
The study, which was released today, involves examples of such laws of darkness. ANHRI aims, by releasing this study, to document and monitor these laws and legislations as a way to facilitate the process of their amendment, in case Egypt, one day, will be able to restore its democracy and rule of law that is largely non-existent nowadays.
You can check the study through the following link:
