Monday, December 05, 2016
An Egyptian policeman stands guard outside the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo on February 25, 2015. PHOTO | KHALED DESOUKI | AFP
CAIRO, Saturday
Egypt’s controversial anti-protest law remains constitutional despite a court’s disapproval of one of its articles and the resulting limitation of the police authorities, said Egyptian legal experts.
On Saturday, the Supreme Constitutional Court, Egypt’s top court, ruled Article 10 of the 2013 anti-protest law, which gives the interior ministry the authority to deny protest requests, as “unconstitutional”.
However, the court upheld the other three debated articles, including one that encourages a minimum two-year jail term and a fine of 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about 2,800 American dollars) to whoever violates the law.
“When an article is not the bone structure of a law, its unconstitutionality does not ruin the whole law,” said Mr Tarek al-Awadi, head of State of Law Support Center and one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit challenging the law.
The court had also to reject the second item of Article 10 as unconstitutional after it rejected the first item because they are interrelated.