The Egyptian Cabinet on Saturday agreed to submit amendments to the military judiciary laws that would add terrorism crimes against police and army personnel and facilities, as well as assaults on public property, under the army’s jurisdiction.
The Cabinet also decided to contact embassies in Cairo and diplomatic missions abroad to what it described at “exposing states that sponsor terrorism,” and to promote that anti-terrorism measures taken by the government comply with the law and the constitution.
Meanwhile, presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had mandated Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb to exercise presidential powers via the State of Emergency law 162\1958 in North Sinai, which is a result of what the spokesman described as the “serious security circumstances the province is experiencing.”
The two measures come after 31 army personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Sheikh Zuwayed region in North Sinai on Saturday in the fiercest attack against security forces since August 2013.
Sisi declared a state of emergency in several parts of Sinai Peninsula for three months, upon National Defence Council's recommendations, as well as a curfew from 5 pm to 7 am.
Among other authorities, a state of emergency gives authorities broad powers in arresting suspects and confining the freedom of assembly. This is the first time Sisi invokes the emergency law since his election in May. The last time it was applied was under former interim president Adly Mansour to counter the street clashes that erupted following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsy.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
