News Analysis: Egypt's new anti-terror bill raises concerns and debate

The new anti-terrorism draft law recently approved by the Egyptian cabinet has raised debate and concerns about freedom and human rights, analysts here said Wednesday.

And they concerned especially that the law seeks to imprison whoever releases news differing from the official statements about terrorist activities and gives the liberty to the police to use force against suspects if they feel danger.

"We do not target the freedom of the press or the freedom of expression by the new anti-terrorism law," said Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab during a meeting with senior journalists including new president of the Journalists' Syndicate Yahia Qallash, who has previously voiced the syndicate's rejection of the new anti-terror bill.

The draft law has been initiated after the assassination of the country's top prosecutor via a car bomb in late June and the following bloody terrorist attacks on several checkpoints in North Sinai province in early July, which left 17 military men killed, while the military raids on militants in the peninsula killed about 250 since then.

Although some defend the new draft law as necessary for the national security and the country's exceptional "war against terrorism," others believe the bill represents violation of the new constitution and contradiction with the standard of free press.

"The new law is likely violation of the constitution and it undermines citizens' safety, as it gives vast authorities to security men to use violence in case of suspicion.

In other words, a policeman can freely kill in case he feels a possible danger," Mohamed Zarie, legal expert and head of Arab Penal Reform Organization, told Xinhua.

The lawyer and human rights activist added that terrorists who carry out suicide bombings and deadly operations do not care about their lives and freedoms, and that the new legislation do not only concern terrorist but it concerns the freedom and rights of 90 million Egyptians.

"We do not want to reach a dilemma where the interests of the state institutions contradict those of media professionals, journalists, lawyers, activists, etc," Zarie said, showing understanding of the necessity for the state to protect itself yet voicing concern about possible "unconstitutionality" of the new anti-terror bill.

Egypt has been facing a rising wave of terrorism since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in early July 2013 and the following crackdown on his supporters, particularly those of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, which left more than 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

Since then, Sinai-based self-proclaimed Islamists have been launching terror attacks against police and army men, leaving hundreds of them killed; Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group, claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks.

To cope with the rapid pace of terrorism, the new leadership imposed a curfew and a state of emergency in Sinai, created a buffer zone at Egypt's borders with the Palestinian Gaza Strip and approved an anti-protest law for more stability and security, which led to the imprisonment of dozens of youth activists who initially supported Morsi's removal.

Still, a lot of journalists and partisans who backed President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi against Morsi's Brotherhood supporters "wholeheartedly" reject the new anti-terror draft law and see it as transgression against the citizen's constitutionally protected rights.

On Wednesday, the country's National Council for Human Rights rejected the new anti-terror bill as "unconstitutional," while the Democratic Current Party and others considered it a waste of the constitutional rights and freedom gained via the January 2011 and June 2013 mass protests that toppled ex-leaders Hosni Mubarak and Morsi.

The concerns heightened in light of the ongoing anti-protest law, the recurrent police violations and the recent mass death sentences issued against Morsi and hundreds of his supporters.

"I see the new anti-terrorism law is unnecessary if it is only meant to fight terrorism, as there are two other anti-terror laws that meet the same purpose, and so there is nothing new about the new law," said Hussein Abdel-Razik, political expert and leading member of Tagammu Party.

He explained that the 97/1992 anti-terror law and the law of terror entities approved by Sisi in February are both in effect and they already give vast authorities to the police in combating terrorism and tough punishment for those involved in terror activities.

"Article 33 of the new bill that jails those who release false news is considered clear violation of the constitution," Abdel-Razik told Xinhua, also lamenting Article 6 that provides protection for policemen in case they use violence against suspects.

Despite the above, many others believe that the new bill is necessary for the country's ongoing war against terror and that it is governed by regulations that make it fairly applicable without violating rights or freedoms.

"Article 33 of the new bill conforms to the constitution, as it is governed by three regulations. First, the false news must be released deliberately. Second, it must be false. And third, it must contradict the official statements," Mahmoud Bakry, executive editor-in-chief of El-Osboa local newspaper, explained.

As a senior journalist, Bakry said that the law does not target or mention media professionals or journalists, and so it is far above targeting the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression in general.

"The country is in a state of war against terrorism, and those who boast of freedom do not consider the blood of martyrs nor do they consider the conspiracy being plotted against Egypt," Bakry told Xinhua. Endit