Successive post-independence governments have found the colonial-era Assembly Law (Law 10/1914) to be a brutally effective weapon in silencing dissent. This is why, 89 years after its re- peal by the Egyptian Parliament in 1928, ostensibly nationalist governments continue to relish in the deployment of this despotic relic from the occupation era. The law drastically extends the reach of the regime’s draconian legal apparatus by legalizing the concept of collective liability, which allowed for mass sentences against participants in any assembly where a crime was alleged to have oc- curred, regardless of each participant’s individual criminal liability. Furthermore, an individual’s phys- ical presence at the assembly is not even a prerequisite for conviction. He/she needs only re-publish a call for a demonstration to be sentenced to prison for ve years, on the grounds of promoting an unlawful assembly during which actions were committed de ned as crimes under the law.

To read the full report, here enclosed below.

Source : http://www.cihrs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Towards_the_em_of_Eg_eng.pdf