Curfew extended in North Sinai for three months, reduced in parts of Arish

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a presidential decree on Saturday extending the state of emergency in North Sinai for another three months.

The state of emergency was originally enacted in October 2014 in the North Sinai cities of Rafah, Sheikh Zuwayed and Arish, as part of the state’s effort to combat terrorism in the area. A public curfew from 7 pm to 6 am had already been enforced in Rafah, Sheikh Zuwayed and Arish since August 2013.

This is the second time the state of emergency has been extended in North Sinai, after a presidential decree was issued on January 25, 2015 – the fourth anniversary of the 2011 revolution – renewing it for another three months.

The strictly applied public curfew in North Sinai puts any citizen seen in public after the designated time in danger of being shot by security forces. The state of emergency gives security forces exceptional powers and allows them to bypass standard protocol, making citizens more vulnerable to arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention without trial.

The president’s decree on Saturday reduced the curfew in most of the city of Arish to the hours between midnight to 6 am, but kept the curfew Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah from 7 pm to 6 am.

However, some parts of Arish, including the Midan and Reesa checkpoints, as well as the ring road in the south of the city, were excluded from the new curfew, and are closed off to citizens after 7 pm. This effectively prevents any resident from being able to exit or enter Arish after this time.

Ahmed Fouad, a resident of Arish, says that while many people are relieved by the curfew reduction, believing that the waning economic activity in the city will begin to improve as a result, they will still be unable to enter or leave the city through the checkpoints.

“They have put us in a bigger prison, and its gates remain closed,” he says.

The inability to leave the city after 7 pm has had catastrophic results in the past six months, Fouad says, as those requiring medical care – which the city’s limited facilities often cannot provide – have been unable to seek it.

“We have a firm belief that these procedures are just meant to exhaust us. The state thinks of us as either terrorists or people who know the whereabouts of terrorists and don’t want to turn them in,” he speculates, reiterating a widespread belief in the area that the state percieves North Sinai residents in a negative light.

Fouad says that the recent decision has created tension between the residents of Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah, who continue to live under a 7 pm curfew, and the residents of Arish, whose situation has improved relatively.

The security situation in North Sinai remains critical, as terrorist attacks on security forces and institutions continue, while residents also continue to report civilian deaths in the state’s ongoing operation to eradicate terrorism in the region.