Third, according to the emergency law, the president of the Republic enjoys sweeping powers. The president has the right to appoint all the judges of the emergency state-security courts, whether civil or military judges. Moreover, the verdicts of these courts cannot be appealed. These courts are composed of judges, and the president can add military officers to them. Second, based on the emergency law, emergency state-security courts can be formed in every first instance court and court of appeal across Egypt. First, the law grants broad powers to law enforcement officers, whether military or police, with regards to detaining suspects, arresting them, or imprisoning them for extended periods. The most prominent of these powers are the following. The emergency law regulates the procedures that are followed when declaring the state of emergency, and the powers the law grants to the executive authority and its security apparatuses. 162/1958, has witnessed many amendments, the last of which was by law 12/2017. In Egypt, on the other hand, the emergency law was issued in 1958, and a state of emergency has been in force since then except for small breaks. The latest declaration of a state of emergency in France was in November 2015 after the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris leaving 130 dead. In France, for instance, the emergency law was issued in 1955 however, a state of emergency has only been declared for a few, limited periods. This law can be enforced by declaring state of emergency when needed, for example when a country confronts a public disaster or large security disturbance. To explain a state of emergency, it is worth mentioning that the existence of the emergency law itself is not problematic. This latter period represented the unprecedented social and political openness that Egypt had enjoyed after toppling Mubarak with no limitations to freedom of expression and no fear of being subjected to arbitrary procedures by the government for political activism. In fact, for 13 months, from June 2012 until August 14, 2013, Egypt lived without a state of emergency (except for a limited and partial enforcement for 30 days between January and February 2013 in the Suez Canal towns). Many thought that Egypt would never live under a state of emergency again. This date represented a milestone in Egypt’s path with the emergency law: the state of emergency finally ended after thirty years of enforcement. Despite the outbreak of the revolution in January 2011, where a major demand was to terminate the state of emergency, emergency rule stayed in force until as stipulated in President Mubarak’s resolution. According to this resolution, the state of emergency ended on May 31, 2012. The last decree issued by President Mubarak to reinstate the state of emergency was resolution No. Before the JanuRevolution, the state of emergency had already been in force since 1981 and had been renewed by the president every two years. Public law is normally applied by the regular (non-military and non-exceptional) judiciary.Įgypt has always witnessed large-scale implementations of the emergency law.
Public law is all general legislations issued by parliament to regulate public affairs based on honoring the rights and freedoms of individual citizens. Since the 1952 Officers Movement, Egypt has been governed for decades by many regulations and exceptional laws that are considered a violation of public law. Egypt has a long history of exceptional laws (the emergency law being among the most prominent of them).
This decree was the third of its kind in 2017. The presidential decree issued on Octore-declaring state of emergency for three months, raised widespread debate.
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