Egypt renews state of emergency for 15th time

The Egyptian parliament approved yesterday a presidential decree to renew the countrywide state of emergency for another three months, the state-run Middle East News Agency has reported.

This is the fifteenth time that the House of Representatives has approved renewal since the state of emergency was imposed in April 2017. The decree from President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi comes into effect from Sunday.

The state of emergency was first declared “to confront the dangers of terrorism and its funding” after twin terrorist attacks on two churches in northern Egypt, which killed 45 people. The terrorist group Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time.

The state of emergency enables the Egyptian authorities to evacuate areas, impose curfews and adopt strict security measures. It also allows the state security agencies to arrest and jail those who violate the measures.

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