Egypt's Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal told MPs this week that parliament will move on two fronts to fight terrorism-related crimes. “The 1950 Criminal Procedures Law will be changed to expedite trials of terrorist suspects,” Abdel-Aal said. “On the other front, I propose that terrorist suspects be referred to trial in military courts, and if this necessary, we will move to amend the constitution itself to help achieve this objective.” Parliament's moves came just one day after a suicide bomb attack on a church attached to St Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo on Sunday which left 24 dead and more than 40 injured. Head of the pro-government parliamentary bloc Support Egypt, Mohamed Al-Seweidi, said Tuesday the majority of MPs agree they have a duty to amend the Criminal Procedures Law as soon as possible. “MPs know that they have to work day and night without any holidays to help the state tighten its grip on terrorism-related crimes and safeguard national security against any terrorist attacks,” Al-Seweidi said. On Tuesday, parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee held an urgent meeting to probe what legislative amendments should be proposed to fight terrorism. Head of the committee Bahaeddin Abu Shoka said “MPs will give the government one week to send its proposed amendments of the 1950 Criminal Procedures Law. If it fails to do so, MPs will themselves prepare the amendments. More than 100 MPs have already proposed amendments in this respect but I prefer that parliament and the government reach consensus on such an important issue.” According to Abu Shoka, Egypt is in desperate need of a legislative revolution “in the area of fighting terrorism and foiling terrorist attacks. The bombing attack on the Coptic Cathedral represents a very dangerous development,” said Abu Shoka, adding that “if parliament does not move fast to stand up to this fourth generation of terrorist crimes, it will lose the initiative in this respect.” He argued that the current laws dealing with terrorism-related crimes, particularly the Criminal Procedures Law and the Penal Code, “have become counterproductive, as both were issued more than 60 years ago”. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati said the government, in cooperation with legislative experts affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, is currently preparing a list of amendments to the Criminal Procedures Law. Al-Agati told MPs that he prefers amending the law to help expedite trials of terrorist suspects. “Let me insist that there is no problem with the existing penalties for terrorist crimes. The problem lies with the long time these trials take without justification and help criminals evade penalties,” said Al-Agati. Al-Agati also revealed that “the government and the judiciary are currently preparing a conference on terrorism crimes which will be made public. It will focus on what legislative steps should be taken to contain terrorism crimes,” said Al-Agati. After attending funeral services for the Coptic victims in east Cairo's district of Nasr City on Monday, MPs returned to parliament with differing perspectives. Around 100 Egyptian MPs proposed on Monday that the Criminal Procedures Law, issued in 1950, be changed to help the country overcome terrorism. The proposal, submitted by Parliament Deputy Speaker and Wafdist MP Suleiman Wahdan, suggests that the law and the 2014 presidential decree on protection of public property be amended to allow all terrorism-related crimes to be referred to military courts. Speaker Abdel-Aal told MPs in a plenary session Monday afternoon that parliament is determined to uproot terrorism and obliterate “dark forces” in Egypt, even if this requires amending the country's 2014 Constitution. “Let me repeat: If it becomes necessary that the constitution be amended to allow terrorism cases to be referred to military courts, parliament will not hesitate to ask for it,” said Abdel-Aal. The speaker said one Western European country is currently debating an amendment to its constitution that would allow those convicted of terrorism crimes to be stripped of their nationality. “This change to the constitution was presented in this country under the title of 'Protection of the Nation Amendment,' ” said Abdel-Aal. Two Coptic MPs, Margaret Azer and Magdi Malak, said in separate statements that they are strongly in favour of stripping all those convicted of terrorism crimes of their nationality. Azer said “even those who are convicted of inciting violence and terrorist attacks should be stripped of their nationality and that this should have a retroactive effect to cover Muslim Brotherhood leaders who incite violence in Egypt from countries like Qatar and Turkey”. Wahdan's proposal called for Article 231 to be added to the 1950 law on criminal procedures requiring that all terrorism-related crimes be referred to military justice. The proposal also states that Article 1 of the 2014 decree be amended to read: “Without affecting the main role of the armed forces in safeguarding the nation and maintaining the integrity of its land and security, the military in full cooperation with police forces will participate in safeguarding vital public property, including electricity stations and pylons, gas and oil pipelines, railway tracks, networks of roads and bridges, and all other forms of public assets. “Places of worship will also be considered public places and all of these will be classified as military installations as long as they are under the guard and protection of the military… those who attack these installations will be automatically referred to trial before military courts.” In a different proposal, Abu Shoka, who is also secretary-general of Egypt's Al-Wafd Party, proposed that the Terrorism Law No 94 of 2015 be amended to designate certain judicial court circuits for the sole review of terrorism-related crimes. “These circuits, which would be attached to appeal courts, will be asked to issue rulings on terrorism-related crimes within one week, and defendants will have the right to contest verdicts only once,” Abu Shoka proposed. He added that “parliament needs trials to be simultaneously fair and quick, with strict observance of the constitution and legislation,” Abu Shoka stressed. Joining forces with Abdel-Aal, Support Egypt proposed Monday that all terrorism-related legislation should be amended to “stand up to recent, dangerous developments in terrorism crimes”. “Terrorists should face quick trials, and if existing laws do not allow this, the constitution itself should be amended to pave the way for this,” said Al-Seweidi. Al-Seweidi, however, supported Wahdan's proposal that the existing Criminal Procedure Law be amended to more easily refer terrorism cases to “quick and firm trials”. Speaker Abdel-Aal told MPs that “terrorism aims to kill all Egyptians without discrimination between Muslims and Christians. The most despicable terrorist acts are the ones which aim to blow up mosques and churches. “The message after the explosion in the Coptic Cathedral yesterday is that terrorism targets all Egyptians – Muslims and Christians – but I am sure that Egyptians will not bow to this terrorism,” said Abdel-Aal, adding that “parliament will use all means possible to foil terrorist acts and make sure that terrorists fail to drive a wedge between Muslim and Christian Egyptians.” He urged that all churches in Egypt be provided with electronic closed-circuit cameras ahead of Christmas celebrations, adding that “this is an urgent measure to safeguard churches against acts of terrorism”. Abdel-Aal said that “if we fail to stand firm against terrorism, there will be no economy, no politics and no state in Egypt.” He praised Egyptian Christians, saying that they have paid a dear price in the form of hundreds of victims. After Monday's funeral services, Deputy Speaker Mahmoud Al-Sherif told reporters that “parliament will give priority to amending the criminal procedures law.” “We hope within a few days that parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, in cooperation with the minister of parliamentary affairs, will be able to finish amending this law in order to make terrorists face quick and firm trials before a court,” said Al-Sherif. Al-Sherif indicated that parliament could go as far as approving the imposition of the emergency law to help foil terrorist attacks. “Please note that countries like France resorted to implementing emergency law after a flurry of terrorist attacks hit the country,” he said. Al-Sherif said the proposal that terrorism-related crimes be referred to military courts needs some review by parliament's constitutional and legislative affairs committee. “We have to see first that this proposal does not contravene the constitution,” said Al-Sherif, adding that “I agree that if the constitution itself needs amending in order to refer terrorism-related crimes to military courts, parliament will not hesitate to support this.” Al-Sherif indicated that Article 204 of the constitution states what kind of crimes should be referred to military tribunals. “The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee will debate this issue and see whether this article should be amended to refer crimes of attacks on places of worship to military courts,” said Al-Sherif. Al-Sherif said the imposition of military tribunals in the 1990s was highly effective in stemming the tide of terrorist crimes in Egypt at the time. Al-Agati told MPs that he prefers amending the Criminal Procedure Law to help expedite trials of terrorist suspects. “Let me insist that there is no problem with the existing penalties for terrorist crimes. The problem lies with the long time these trials take without justification,” said Al-Agati.
