President el-Sisi lifts the State of Emergency in Egypt: Anti-Christian attacks and Muslim Brotherhood

President el-Sisi lifts the State of Emergency in Egypt: Anti-Christian attacks and Muslim Brotherhood

Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will lift the State of Emergency that was imposed in April 2017. Following the first imposition, it was mandated every three months and maintained. However, with stability returning to Egypt, el-Sisi believes that now is the right time to end the State of Emergency.

The indigenous Coptic Christian community – and other minority Christian sects – felt enormous unease before the first State of Emergency in 2017. This concerns two Islamist terrorist attacks against Christian churches that resulted in 47 deaths.

Reuters reported about one of the terrorist attacks against a Christian church in 2017. This agency said, “The first bombing, in Tanta, a Nile Delta city about 100 km (60 miles) north of Cairo, tore through the inside of St. George Church during its Palm Sunday service, killing at least 27 people and injuring at least 78, the Ministry of Health said.”

Also, the Muslim Brotherhood was inciting internally in several major cities – and in the countryside – while Islamists in the Sinai region were causing havoc. Hence, with recent political events shaking the institutions of Egypt before el-Sisi took power, el-Sisi focused on national security and strengthening traditional institutions.

El-Sisi said, “Egypt has become, thanks to its great people and loyal men, an oasis for security and stability in region. So, I have decided for the first time in years not to extend the state of emergency nationwide.”

He continued, “As I declare this decision, I remember with all respect and appreciation our heroic martyrs, without whom we could not have achieved stability or security.”

Voice of America reports, “The state of emergency granted authorities sweeping powers to make arrests and crackdown on what they call enemies of the state.”

Islamists loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood and liberal critics of el-Sisi have condemned the leader of Egypt concerning the State of Emergency. However, for el-Sisi – and in the knowledge of ongoing instability in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen – national security was essential in the fight to preserve the functioning state against instability.

Overall, it is positive that el-Sisi will lift the State of Emergency because it is a sign that internal Muslim Brotherhood agitation and outside meddling have waned.

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