Egyptian President el-Sisi Declares State of Emergency

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has declared a state of emergency throughout the country for a period of three months, starting at 1 am, April 28. The declaration, which cited both the coronavirus pandemic and threats to the state’s security, was taken in consultation with the cabinet and published as Resolution 168 of 2020 in the Official Gazette. Article 2 of the resolution states that the armed forces and police will take steps to confront the dangers and financing of terrorism, preserve security throughout the country, protect public and private property, and secure the lives of citizens. Article 4 stipulates that anyone who violates orders issued by the president to implement the provisions of the emergency law (referred to as Law No. 162 of 1958) will be imprisoned. Recently, Egyptians opposed to the president have begun using the #Sisi_leave hashtag on Twitter, demanding that the president leave office against the backdrop of the government’s announced request to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund to battle the coronavirus pandemic. More than 4,700 cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed in Egypt to date, with 337 deaths.