Egypt has ended the years-long state of emergency nationwide as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has decided not to renew the emergency.
On Monday evening el-Sisi said, “Egypt has become, thanks to its great people and its loyal men, an oasis of security and stability in the region.”
He added, “This is why I decided to cancel the renewal of the state of emergency throughout the country.”
The measure had been in place since the April 2017 bombings of two Coptic churches by an affiliate of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group that killed more than 40 people and wounded dozens more. Coptic Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of some 100 million.
Prominent Egyptian activist Hossam Bahgat welcomed the decision, saying that it would stop the use of emergency state security courts, although it would not apply to some high-profile cases already referred to such courts.
Egypt’s state of emergency allowed the authorities to make arrests and search people’s homes without warrants. Constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and assembly were curtailed.
Armed unrest in Egypt
The country has for years been battling armed unrest, with the attacks largely concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula but occasionally striking in other areas too.
Rights groups said that the state of emergency coupled with the government’s effective ban on protests since 2013 has helped it in crushing dissent.
El-Sisi, who in 2013 led the overthrow of democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been president since 2014. He maintains security is paramount and denies there are political prisoners in Egypt.
