Egyptian president has issued Terroris

CAIRO –The Egyptian president has issued a law that broadens the state’s definition of terrorism to include anyone who threatens public order “by any means,” and gives authorities powers to draw up lists of alleged terrorists with little judicial recourse.

Under the new law, prosecutors can name someone a terrorist, freezing their assets, and barring them from public life or travel, with only simple approval from a panel of judges, and without a trial.

The listing is valid for three years and can be renewed.

The legislation was signed in the form of a decree by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last week and was distributed to reporters Tuesday.

It is part of the government’s stepped-up campaign against an expanding insurgency by militant groups, including one that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group fighting in Iraq and Syria.

The authorities have also waged a sweeping crackdown on supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, as well as young activists and groups that fuelled the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Internationally, Egypt has pushed allies for closer cooperation to combat terrorism in the region, particularly in neighboring Libya.

Rights activists criticized the law, saying it only serves to expand Egypt’s existing arsenal of legislation that empowers authorities against political opponents.

“In the absence of accountability and monitoring, we will never know whom this law is applied to,” said Mohammed Zaree, Egypt program manager at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.

“The absence of accountability and monitoring only leaves authorities above the law.”

The new Egyptian law defines a terrorist group as any entity that calls “by any means, inside or outside the country, for harming individuals, terrorizing them or putting their lives, freedoms, rights or security in danger.”