299 defendants removed from Egypt's terror list

CAIRO - 17 April 2018: The names of 299 defendants were removed from Egypt's terror list after the Court of Cassation accepted their appeal. The appeal denied an association between the defendants, and the group known in the media as "Wilayat Sinai" (Sinai Province).

In June 2017, the Cairo Criminal Court put 299 defendants on the terrorist entities list for three years, after allegedly joining a terrorist organization in Sinai. The ISIS-affiliated organization, which espouses takfiri ideas, has carried out several attacks against police and the Armed Forces. On Monday, the court heard the appeal introduced by 85 of the 299 defendants.

Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province) is an offshoot of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which emerged in North Sinai after the 2011 upheaval, and orchestrated major attacks following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

The government labeled the group a terrorist organization in April 2015, after it had already pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014.

Since the ouster of President Morsi on July 3, 2013, Egypt has put a number of people on a proscribed terrorist list, because of their attempts to incite chaos across the country; the list was updated March 6, 2018, where 319 new names were added.

As part of Egypt’s efforts to fight terrorism, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi issued a new law in 2015 that gives a broad definition of terrorist entities, and the sentences against them.

The law defines a terrorist entity as a group or an individual that "through any means inside or outside the country, seek to call for the disabling of laws, or to prevent state institutions or public authorities from functioning, or seek to attack the personal liberty of citizens or other freedoms and rights granted to citizens by the law and constitution,or to harm the national unity and social peace."

It also includes those who commit attacks either inside or outside Egypt. According to the law on terrorist entities (law No. 8/2015), the general prosecution shall create a proscribed terrorist list which is then to be referred to the Egyptian court, which will have the final say as to individuals’/groups’ designation as terrorists.

Those who are blacklisted in accordance with the law "are placed on travel ban lists, prevented from entering the country, will have their travel passports withdrawn, are not allowed to have new travel passports, will lose the stipulation of good reputation, and shall not be allowed to join Parliament or take charge of government posts." The decision can be appealed.