Parliament initially approves amendments to terror list law

CAIRO – 3 November 2019: Egypt’s House of Representatives initially approved new amendments to some provisions of Law No. 8 of 2015 concerning the country's lists of terrorist entities and persons.

As per the new amendments, the General Prosecution’s decisions to include, extend the duration, or remove any of the terrorist entities and persons from the list shall be published in the official gazette Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya without fees.

The Parliament will refer the draft law to the State’s Council for its advisory opinion. Later, a General session will convene at the parliament to give its final saying on the bill. The decision aims to ease the burden on the Public Prosecution, as it had to pay large amounts of money to publish such decisions.

The decision also considered the prosecution's lack of interest in bearing the cost of these decisions, as a fair opponent that has a special legal status, representing the public interest, and seeking to fulfill the obligations of the law.

Since the ousting of late President Mohamed Morsi, who was also a leader at the Muslim Brotherhood "terrorist" group, the Egyptian judiciary has placed hundreds of Egyptian persons and entities on the terror list.

According to the act on the regulation of the lists of terrorist entities and persons issued in 2015, the inclusion of any group or person on these lists is automatically followed by the seizure of their funds and the issuance of travel bans. In case those designated as "terrorists" are abroad, they are placed on the country's watch list.