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Draft Law Proposes Life Sentence for Insulting the Army Or President

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Draft Law Proposes Life Sentence for Insulting the Army Or President Egypt Daily Update: Draft Law Proposes Life Sentence for Insulting the Army or President July 11, 2017 Draft Law Proposes Life Sentence for Insulting the Army or President Khaled Ali and Ahmed Fawzi Briefly Detained at Cairo International Airport Tarek Hussein’s Location Still Unknown, Despite Previous Reports Cartoon of the Day: The Middle Class Top Stories Draft Law Proposes Life Sentence for Insulting the Army or President Members of the Egyptian Parliament called on the government on Monday to issue a draft law that assigns the Higher Council to Combat Terrorism the duty of prohibiting insults and inappropriate language used against the Egyptian military, police, and the president. The draft law stipulates that the punishment for such language could be life imprisonment. The call for the new law follows a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint that killed at least [Ar] 23 soldiers, which Egyptian media says prompted celebratory social media posts by some Islamists in Egypt. Members of the Parliament’s Defense and Security Committee emphasized the need for the law, with the under secretary of the committee Yahia Kedwni saying that the draft law is designed to target false news and rumors about the army and the president on social media. Another member of the Defense and Security Committee, Gamal Bakhait, said, “It is a matter of Egypt’s national security that we all, as Egyptians, should co-operate to put an end” to rumors and insults on social media. Dissenting MP George Isaac said the law would serve to increase police abuse against citizens and “will not contribute in countering those who support extremist ideologies.” Khaled Ali and Ahmed Fawzi Briefly Detained at Cairo International Airport According to Mada Masr [Ar], prominent rights lawyer and opposition figure Khaled Ali and former Secretary General of the Egyptian Democratic Party Ahmed Fawzi were detained at the Cairo International Airport today after returning from Tunisia. According to human rights activist Gamal Eid on Twitter [Ar], Ali and Fawzi were held by Egyptian security forces for around 40 minutes at the airport. The incident seems to be the latest intimidation tactic by the Egyptian government against human rights activists. Ali, a vocal oppoent of the Red Sea island transfer deal, will go to trial on July 24 for “offending public decency.” If convicted, he will be banned from running in the 2018 presidential election against al-Sisi and may face jail time. Tarek Hussein’s Location Still Unknown, Despite Previous Reports Contradicting an earlier statement, Giza Central Prison has now said that lawyer Tarek Hussein is not detained at the facility, according to social media posts by Tarek’s brother. His brother posted a message stating that he received a phone call stating that Hussein is not at at a hard labor camp more than 130 kilometers north of Cairo. Hussein was ordered to be released on bail on June 18 after being arrested as part of a pre-emptive crackdown before the controversial parliamentary approval of the Tiran and Sanafir island transfer. Yesterday, the International Network for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) called for Hussein’s immediate release, joining several other international and domestic organizations. Hussein has now been illegally detained for more than three weeks, and his whereabouts have been concealed by the government for more than a week. Cartoon of the Day: The Middle Class “Goodbye…” “Meat Grinder of the Middle Class” Mohamed Anwar – @anwarjbr Al-Masry Al-Youm – 07/11/2017 Also Worth Reading From Boredom to Labor and Labor to Boredom Lina Attalah Mada Masr.
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