Egypt's Solution to Violence Against Christians Must Not Include Abuse of Emergency Powers, Says Amnesty International
The solution to the sectarian violence in Egypt doesn't lie on emergency powers that curtail human rights. This was declared by Amnesty International (AI) following the twin church bombings last Palm Sunday that was claimed by Islamic State (ISIS) and left at least 44 dead.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promptly ordered a three-month state of emergency which was unanimously approved by parliament on Tuesday. There are concerns however that security forces will abuse the emergency powers as has been the experience before.
"It may actually be used to stop freedom of expression and allow the authorities to abuse citizens' rights," Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher on Egypt's Coptic issues, told CNN. "The normal law allows the government to deal with the situation. You just need to change some policies."
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For the rest of Christian Copts, the state of emergency could only mean people will get trailed for no reason and arrested with no warrants. For a long time, Egyptians have had traumatic experiences with the emergency rule which was used to detain dissenters without judicial orders, AI said in a statement.
"Egypt has a decades-long history of relying on emergency measures which grant security forces sweeping powers to commit human rights violations unchecked, leading to arbitrary detention, torture and other serious violations," said Najia Bounaim, AI North Africa campaigns director.
Al-Sisi's vaguely worded emergency powers allow prior censorship of the media. This was enforced on Albawaba newspaper when authorities confiscated its copies one hour after the state of emergency was declared. The Monday edition criticized the Interior Ministry intelligence for its failure to preempt the bombings.
While it is the authorities' duty to protect the lives and safety of its population, Bounaim said the solution doesn't lie in continuing and intensifying the curtailment of what little freedom remains in Egypt. Rather, sectarian violence should be addressed through genuine political will and ending impunity, she continued.
