Worse than the dictators: Egypt’s leaders bring pillars of freedom crashing down
Adly Mansour and now Abdel Fatah al-Sisi are ruling by decrees, banning protest and severely curbing freedom of speech
A
Cairo
university student holds a flare during a protest against the acquittal of
former president Hosni Mubarak over hundreds of deaths during the 2011
uprising. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Egypt is enacting
authoritarian laws at a rate unmatched by any regime for 60 years, legal
specialists from four institutions have told the Guardian.
Since
the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Morsi’s successors in the
presidency, Adly Mansour and Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, have used the absence of an
elected parliament to almost unilaterally issue a series of draconian decrees
that severely restrict freedom of expression, association and assembly.
The
speed at which the decrees have been issued outpaces legislative frenzies under
the dictators Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, and is matched only by the period
that followed the toppling of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952, according to Amr
Shalakany, associate law professor at the American University in Cairo; Amr
Abdulrahman, director of civil liberties at the Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights; Mohamed Elhelw, head of legal research at the Egyptian
Commission for Rights and Freedoms; and Ahmed Ezzat, a human rights lawyer, and
previously a legal researcher at another prominent rights group.
“This
is not normal,” said Shalakany. “Historically, it’s completely out of pattern
with any normal legislation that we’ve had experience of in this country.” The
only precedent, Shalakany said, was set by the Revolutionary Command Council of
the early 1950s. “The rate is faster than even the last year of Sadat’s
[tenure, 1981]; the scope is also wider.”
President
Abdel Fatah al-Sisi reviews a guard of honour after being sworn in as president
of Egypt
in June. Photograph: Reuters
Legislation
enacted by Mansour, an interim president installed by Sisi after Morsi’s
removal, and Sisi himself, a former army chief elected to succeed Mansour,
include laws that ban protest, expand the jurisdiction of military courts,
remove several limits on pre-trial detention, and restrict media coverage of
the armed forces without prior approval.
Most
troublingly, the moves have been made without the involvement of parliament,
and with only the nominal oversight of a cabinet and a committee over which
Sisi has overbearing influence.
“Sadat
and Mubarak did not use their capacity to issue controversial legislation in
the absence of parliament to nearly the same extent as Sisi is doing now,” said
Abdulrahman. “These are crucial decrees that relate to different spheres of
economic and social life that passed without any kind of national dialogue.”
According
to a roadmap drawn up after the overthrow of Morsi, who was himself accused of draconian measures, a parliament should have been
elected by the end of 2013. Revisions to the roadmap then pushed back elections
until July 2014. But despite the speed at which other laws have been passed, a
second law needed to set elections in motion still has not been finalised,
meaning Egypt
may not have an elected legislature until summer 2015.
Sisi
and Mansour have filled the vacuum with controversial decisions well beyond
their constitutional remit. “The constitution gives the president the right to
issue decrees in exceptional situations, out of necessity,” said Elhelw. “But
the laws they have issued are not absolutely necessary. If they weren’t issued,
the state would not stop.”
The
surge of authoritarian legislation includes, in chronological order:
Supporters
of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi clash with security forces near Cairo University
earlier this year. Photograph: APA Images/Rex
Tender law, September 2013
A
Mansour decree let government ministers award contracts to companies without a
public tender process. In the months after the decree, the army was awarded building
contracts worth about $1bn.
Extension of pre-trial detention, September 2013
The
pre-trial detention limit for those accused of crimes punishable by life
sentences was removed, technically allowing for certain unconvicted
political dissidents to remain on remand in perpetuity.
Protest
ban November 2013
The
protest ban has become one of the state’s main new tools of oppression, used to
arrest thousands of people.
Investment
law, April 2014
This
bans third parties from appealing against the awarding of government contracts.
“It’s very dangerous,” said Ahmed Ezzat. “If you as a citizen see the contract
contains corruption, you can’t appeal. And that is itself the definition of
corruption.”
Elections
law, June 2014
Experts
warn a new voting system will privilege the old elites, and inhibit
liberal parties that emerged after the revolution. “The electoral law is
tailored to ensure the new parliament is exclusively for wealthy, Muslim men,”
said Abdulrahman.
University
law, June 2014
Sisi
gave himself the power to hire and fire university heads, allowing him Mubarak-style control
of campuses, the fulcrum of dissent since Morsi’s overthrow.
Clampdown
on foreign funding, September 2014
Requesting
or receiving foreign funds for the purposes of “harming the national interest”
is punishable by life in prison. The government says this is aimed at
terrorists. Rights groups, whose funding is mostly sourced overseas, say the
vagueness of the wording can be used against them, and have scaled back
requests for help from abroad.
Expansion
of military jurisdiction, October 2014
The
army was given jurisdiction over large parts of public space,
including roads, bridges and universities. The move was nominally aimed at
terrorists but also makes it easier for the government to try members of the
political opposition in the country’s opaque military courts.
Ultimatum
to rights groups, November 2014
Rights
groups were given an deadline to sign up to restrictive Mubarak-era
legislation, or face being shut down. The backlash has yet to begin – but
several groups were frightened enough to scale back their activity, or freeze
it altogether.
Terrorism
law, drafted December 2014
If
rubber-stamped by Sisi, this law would expand the definition of terrorism to
anything that “harms national unity”– loose phrasing that could be applied to
the opposition. “It’s the most horrible new law in my opinion,” said
Abdulrahman. “It’s very vague, and relates to almost anything. It’s almost
unprecedented.”
FREEDOM
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