Following assassination of chief prosecutor, Cairo moves to stem growing violence from Islamist opponents to Sissi rule

File: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, center, speaks in front of the state-run TV ahead of a military funeral for 30 troops killed in an assault in the Sinai Peninsula, as he stands with army commanders in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 (AP/MENA)
File: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, center, speaks in front of the state-run TV ahead of a military funeral for 30 troops killed in an assault in the Sinai Peninsula, as he stands with army commanders in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 (AP/MENA)

 

Egypt’s government adopted a controversial anti-terror law and requested a faster court appeals process on Wednesday, after the president pledged tougher laws following the assassination of the top prosecutor.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who vowed to adopt tougher measures following the killing of state prosecutor Hisham Barakat on Monday, is expected to swiftly ratify the law.

In July 2013, then army chief Sissi deposed his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi and has overseen a brutal crackdown against his supporters, leaving hundreds dead and thousands jailed. The Sissi government blames Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group for the killing of Barakat, who oversaw the prosecution of thousands of Brotherhood members and leaders.

On Wednesday, a special forces team raided a Cairo apartment and killed nine fugitive members of the now-outlawed Brotherhood, including a former member of parliament, security officials said.

The Brotherhood responded by calling for a rebellion against Sissi, saying the nine were “murdered in cold blood.”

Emergency personnel inspect damage after a bomb attack targeted Egypt's state prosecutor in the Heliopolis district of Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Ahmed Hatem)
Emergency personnel inspect damage after a bomb attack targeted Egypt’s state prosecutor in the Heliopolis district of Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Ahmed Hatem)

 

Partly in response to the government crackdown, jihadist groups, mainly the local affiliate of the Islamic State group in Sinai, have killed scores of security personnel since Morsi’s overthrow, saying their attacks are in retaliation for the targeting of Morsi’s supporters.

On Wednesday, the IS-affiliated “Sinai Province” group struck Egyptian army outposts in the peninsula in a coordinated wave of suicide bombings and battles that left 64 soldiers, 90 jihadists and four civilians dead, according to Egyptian officials.

Wednesday’s draft law will provide “means to drain the sources of terrorism financing,” a cabinet statement said.

Minister of Transitional Justice Ibrahim Henaidy told state-run Al-Ahram newspaper that the new law will “stipulate harsher punishment” to those convicted of “belonging to a terrorist group…committing terrorist acts or had used violence.”

The proposed law will also widen the powers of “investigators of terrorist crimes,” grant new authorities to the prosecution, and “facilitate procedures to inspect and examine bank accounts” of suspects, Henaidy said.

As reported by The Times of Israel