Egypt’s New Protest Law

The “revolutionary” government — headed by the interim President, Adly Mansur, previously president of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, otherwise known as a bastion for liberal and democratic values — has passed a new law titled “Organization of the Right to Public Meetings, Marches and Peaceful Demonstrations.” Here is a link to the official version as published in the Egyptian Gazette.

It is my opinion that this law is substantially worse than the draft law the the Hisham Qindil government proposed during Morsi’s one-year in office. Here is the link to the Arabic text of that draft law.  Here is the link the explanatory memorandum that accompanied the draft and which was prepared by the Ministry of Justice when Ahmad Mekki was Minister of Justice.  And, finally, here is a link to a letter from Human Rights Watch with some criticisms of that draft law.

Everyone should be able to reach their own conclusions regarding the direction in which Egypt is heading, that is, if this government is allowed to continue in this course of conduct.