(Cairo) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Monday not to renew the lifting of the state of emergency, established in the country more than four years ago after several deadly attacks against Coptic churches.
“Egypt has become, thanks to its great people and loyal men, an oasis of security and stability in the region,” Sisi said on his official Facebook page.
“This is why I decided to cancel the renewal of the state of emergency throughout the country,” he added.
Set up nationwide in April 2017 following bloody attacks claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) against Coptic churches – the main Christian minority in the Middle East – in the towns of Tanta and Alexandria (north), the state of emergency had since been renewed continuously.
It was set up in 2014 in the Sinai Peninsula (east), plagued for years by an armed Islamist insurgency led by a local branch of ISIS. In this region, a curfew, starting in some districts in the north of the peninsula as early as 7 p.m., is also in effect.
The Egyptian army and police have been carrying out a vast “anti-terrorism” operation in Sinai since February 2018, but also in parts of the Western Desert, between the Nile Valley and the border with Libya.
The state of emergency greatly expands police powers of arrest, surveillance, and may impose restrictions on freedom of movement.
Human rights NGOs regularly denounce attacks on individual freedoms in the context of the state of emergency in Egypt, where Mr. Sissi has been leading since coming to power in 2013, a fierce repression against all forms of opposition.