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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

A political warning

EGYPT_44444357
EGYPT_44444357
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Nehal El Sherif -


Hours after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sissi declared a state of emergency on Sunday evening, the entire run of the privately owned Al Bawaba newspaper was confiscated by authorities.


The state of emergency comes after dozens of Egypt’s Christian minority were killed in twin bombings targeting two churches on Palm Sunday, which were claimed by the IS group.


“We were surprised that the edition was confiscated at the printing house by the censors,” according to a statement on the newspaper’s website. The president repeatedly criticised it for a lack of support for the government’s efforts to combat terrorism.


The emergency law grants the president special powers, which include censoring and confiscating publications; monitoring and intercepting all forms of communication; closing any facility; and imposing restrictions on the freedom of movement for any citizen.


While a parliamentary majority is needed to enforce the emergency law, the cabinet already set it into force.


The quick move to confiscate the paper appeared to be a warning against what the government sees as lack of support for security forces.


Sissi has repeatedly requested more backing from media outlets and denounced their rare criticism as divisive.


In his speech on Sunday, Sissi called on the media to ensure “credibility and responsibility.”


Al Bawaba attributed the confiscation to its attack on Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar and its call for “holding him accountable.”


Analyst H A Hellyer said in an email that the effect of the state of emergency on the ground remains unclear as “there is a wide set of counterterrorism legislative arrangements already in place.”


One of these measures is the 2013 protest law, which granted police the right to ban protests it deemed threatening to “security and peace.” Hundreds of protesters have been jailed since then.


The state of emergency “sends a political message to the populace, and perhaps the Christian community in particular — that the government claims it is taking the situation seriously,” said Hellyer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute. “But actual changes on the ground are very much ambiguous,” he added. Sissi did not impose a curfew, one of the main features of a state of emergency. However, more troops and armoured vehicles have been deployed across Egypt to secure vital institutions.


“Our feasts have been turned into funerals repeatedly, but we are notable to blame anyone or say there is lack of security,” journalist Fathiya al Dakhakhni wrote in a column. — dpa


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