State officials discuss criminalising insult to ‘revolutions’ and constitution

Daily News Egypt
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An Egyptian woman casts her ballot on a new constitution on 14 at a polling centre in Cairo. The ECOE said the violations it observed weren’t grave enough to affect referendum’s integrity. (AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI)

The draft law criminalising insults to the “revolution”,has been expanded to include insults to the constitution and its basic elements, a judicial source told Daily News Egypt Thursday.

The draft law is yet to be issued as an official presidential decree, and is now under study between the Council of Ministers and the Presidency, the anonymous legal source said.

According to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), Egypt has seen a large deterioration in freedom of expression and speech throughout the past year.

The legal source added that it is likely breaking this law could result in a prison term of between one year to five years.

Since the military ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013, Egyptian security forces have detained at least 41,000 people, according to the online database, WikiThawra.

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