Egypt court strikes down part of protest law to ban all but officially sanctioned

Egypt’s top court has struck down part of a law that allowed the Interior Ministry to ban all but officially sanctioned protests, a court official said Saturday.
The 2013 law, which has been used to jail activists for up to two years, required demonstrators to inform the ministry that they were planning a protest.
The ministry could then refuse permission.
The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the article was unconstitutional, barrister Tareq Shibel said.
The court said in a statement that the constitution guaranteed freedom of association and the right to peaceful protest.
The authorities have deployed this law to prevent anti-government protests, but groups of people would be able to attend pro-authorities rallies during the same period.
The constitutional court’s verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
However, Saturday’s ruling does not mean the law will be scrapped in its entirety, said two court officials who did not wish to be identified.
The verdict is “a partial victory that has granted us a political victory” against the government, Tareq Al-Awady, one of the lawyers who challenged the law’s constitutionality, told AFP.
“We were hoping the court would accept our appeal against the two articles that criminalize and set the punishment, so imprisoned young people could be freed,” he said.
Following the verdict, “as long as the Interior Ministry is notified” about a protest it cannot ban it, Al-Awady said.

Source: Arab News