Introduction:
While the fight against terrorism is legitimate and necessary, combating terrorism must not jeopardise the enjoyment of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Since 1981, Egypt has a history of legislating abuse in the name of the fight against terrorism and has a dismal human rights record, which include an endemic practice of incommunicado detention and torture, the use of military and exceptional courts that do not meet fair trial standards and the routine violation of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
Despite the announcement of the repeal of the Law on State of Emergency (Law No. 162 of 1958 restored in 1981) a few weeks before the deadline, it was renewed on February 2006 by a vote of the People’s Assembly for a period of three years. The renewal of the state of emergency for another three years is expected to allow Egyptian legislators to finalize a new draft law against terrorism that would replace the law on the state of emergency. On several occasions, FIDH and its Member Organizations in Egypt expressed concern about the impact on freedoms of provisions that could be included in this bill.
On 22 March 2006, Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif established by Decree No. 477 of 2006 a committee responsible for drafting the law to combat terrorism. President Hosni Mubarak had promised during his campaign for re-election in 2005 to lift the state of emergency and to have it replaced with the new anti-terrorism law. The PM’s decree appointed Mofid Shehab, the minister of state for legal affairs and parliamentary councils, as the chair of the drafting committee, which includes nine members from his ministry and the ministries of the interior, defense and justice. According to official statements, the committee will present the draft bill to parliament beginning of March 2008, before the state of emergency expires in May 2008. At the time of writing, no draft of the new bill has been made public.
Government officials and leaders of the ruling National Democratic Party have repeatedly stated that the new anti-terrorism law will strike a delicate balance between protecting citizens’ rights on the one hand, and ensuring public safety against the threat of terrorism on the other. Nonetheless, constitutional amendments of March 2007 raise concerns that the new anti-terrorism law may include provisions that sustain serious and widespread human rights violations.
The Egyptian Government must ensure that explicit safeguards against human rights abuses are provided for in the new law; the draft law must be made public as soon as possible; and ample time must be allowed for public debate before the draft is sent to Parliament.