Egypt’s new draft protest law, which had been written for some time by the Ministry of Justice and was now just submitted by the Cabinet to the interim president for his signature (after one week of public debate), has caused a firestorm.
Leading liberal politician Wahid Abdel Meguid wrote an op-ed, wondering in the headline whether “the English occupiers were more merciful to us.” Among others, Al-Dostour, Mohamed ElBaradei’s party, has unabashedly denounced the draft and Abdel-Mon’eim Abul-Fotouh’s Strong Egypt Party has lambasted it, while even the Social Democratic Party (which holds the highest two positions in the Cabinet) and its head have reportedly criticized the law in no uncertain terms. One writer even described the draft as a “project to end the dream of change.” A Salafist Al-Nour Party spokesman stated that it was an example of “dangerous legislation,” while another said it “tears down the gains of the Jan. 25 revolution.” Amnesty International said the law “paved the way for further bloodshed” and is “more repressive than similar legislation proposed by [deposed President] Mohammed Morsi’s government.” One report even suggested that the deputy prime minister, the leading figure in the beleaguered moderate wing of the government, is leading a minority opposition inside the Cabinet against the legislation. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine that the administration has been taken aback by the political backlash against the law, especially as some had imagined much of the former liberal opposition as largely pacified by now.
