Protest Law to be amended, says official

The contentious Protest Law will be amended to meet the demands of the Egyptian street, spokesperson of the Transitional Justice Ministry Mahmoud Fawzy told the Turkish Anadolu Agency on Monday.

This follows a review of the law by the ministry and suggested amendments from the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR).

Member of the NCHR, Nasser Amin, said last week that the law would be amended very soon, resulting in the release of all prisoners detained under it.

Activist Alaa Abd El Fattah and two others were released on bail Monday, in the case known as the “Shura Council protest,” in which he and 23 others were sentenced to 15 years in prison before being granted a re-trial. They were all accused of violating the Protest Law.

Activist Ahmed Douma and founders of the April 6 Youth Movement Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel were imprisoned for three years for violating the same law, as well as Alexandria-based activist Mahienour al-Massry, who was sentenced to two years in prison with seven others before her sentence was reduced to six months.

Sanaa Seif, Abd El Fattah’s sister, is still imprisoned, along with activist Yara Sallam and 23 others in the Ettehadiya case under the Protest Law. Their trial has been adjourned to October 11.

Various human rights groups, journalists, and political parties recently launched a campaign named, “We have had enough,” against the controversial law. Tens of activists inside and outside prisons have declared hunger strikes in recent months until the law is revoked and all detainees are free.

Since going into effect in November 2013, the Protest Law has been the object of both local and international condemnation. The law stipulates that organizers of a demonstration must notify and gain approval from security forces at least 24 hours in advance, giving the authorities the right to cancel a protest that they consider a threat to public security. Activists say these conditions give security forces complete control over the right to protest.

New York based Human Rights Watch said in November that the law violates international standards, and is a direct threat to the right of peaceful protest and assembly.

“This new Egyptian government’s first major legislative act clearly shows that its goal is to sharply restrict peaceful assembly and to let security shut down protests at will,” Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy Middle East director wrote in the statement. “This law will reverse the freedom to demonstrate that Egyptians seized in January 2011, and risks putting that freedom, which brought about momentous change, into reverse.”

Amnesty International has also lambasted the law for giving security forces “free rein” in suppressing dissent.

“Granting security forces complete discretion to ban protests or disperse them using excessive and lethal force is a serious setback for human rights in Egypt and paves the way for further abuse,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa deputy director at Amnesty International.

Several political activists have claimed the law represents the state’s attempt to target political dissidents and crack down on rights and freedoms gained following the January 25 revolution, especially the right of peaceful protest.

Wiki Thawra — an initiative created by the Egyptian Center for Social and Economic Rights (ECSER) to document all those detained, arrested and killed since the January 25 uprising — reported that around 40,000 people have been detained since former President Mohamed Morsi was ousted on July 3, 2013. Of those arrested, 89 percent were detained on political grounds, and four percent on terrorism-related charges.