Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued a decision declaring a state of emergency throughout the country for another three months, starting from Wednesday, April 29, and until the morning of July 28. The decision to extend the state of emergency is the 12th in a row since its imposition on April 10, 2017.
Al-Sisi first imposed a three-month nationwide state of emergency in April 2017, following a twin bombing at two churches in the northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria that killed at least 47 and wounded over 120 others. This represents an outright circumvention of the constitution, which stipulates that emergency law be declared for only six consecutive months.
Security services take advantage of the emergency law to abuse political opponents and journalists by arresting them and referring them to the Supreme State Security Court where rulings cannot be appealed.
