NCHR: Protest law won’t hold up for long

Egypt’s highly controversial protest law will be ruled unconstitutional as soon as the draft constitution is ratified, National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) head Mohamed Fayek told the European Union delegation on Monday, according to the state-owned news site Egynews.

After the violent dispersal of a No to Military Trials protest last week, NCHR released a statement slamming how the contentious piece of legislation was implemented, saying "some violations took place that need to be properly investigated according to the rule of law.”

The statement said that the NCHR conducted in-depth investigations into the events, in which dozens of protesters were beaten and arrested. The group claims to have material recording police violations.

However, the statement also added that "although the council has some reservations on the protest law, the law needs to be respected.” The activists had not submitted notification of their protest to security forces, as the law stipulates.

The Cabinet did not take the NCHR’s criticisms of the law into consideration, and many of its articles need to be reconsidered, the statement continued, particularly the ban on labor strikes and harsh penalties and sentences for violators.

"The council will continue to amend the disputed articles to support freedom of speech and expression according to international standards," the statement said.