Egypt's parliament has approved legislative amendments to carry out what officials have described as the most extensive overhaul of the country's criminal procedure law since 1950.
More than 200 changes to the penal code's 560 articles, which still require the president's approval, include granting expanded surveillance powers to the Public Prosecution office, shortening pretrial detention periods, and modifying trial procedures.
The most contentious amendment allows prosecutors to surveil online communications and electronic devices in cases involving crimes punishable by more than three months in prison, after getting a court order. Prosecutors will be allowed to listen to and record private conversations – whether they are voice or video calls, inspect downloads, app store purchases and chat histories, and confiscate letters, parcels, newspapers and publications received by suspects. The courts can issue surveillance permission for a period not exceeding 30 days, although this can be renewed indefinitely.
The amended penal code will also reduce the maximum period of pretrial detention, a long-standing concern for rights activists who claim that prolonged detentions have been used to punish dissidents.
The issue of how long and under what conditions the state can hold citizens awaiting trial was also widely discussed at Egypt’s National Dialogue, a forum launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to allow political parties to discuss points of discord with state policies.
The draft change lowers the limit on pretrial detention from six months to four in misdemeanour cases, and from 18 months to 12 for felony suspects. In cases involving crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment, the maximum period was set at 18 months.
While surveillance and pretrial attention have garnered the most public attention, lawyers and rights groups have raised issue with a number of provisions in the revised penal code, which parliament discussed for months before approving it in principle in December.
A coalition of human rights lawyers headed by Khaled Ali, who often acts as defence lawyer in political dissent cases, outlined 16 objections to provisions that they said would undermine rights to a fair trial and expand the powers of the Public Prosecution at the expense of judges and lawyers.
The lawyers said some of the new articles grant broad investigative powers to all police officers, regardless of rank or qualification, without ensuring sufficient oversight or accountability. These changes could lead to an increase in abusive practices by law enforcement officials, already considered a widespread problem in Egypt.
Human Rights Watch warned in an October review of the draft law that new articles grant the Public Prosecution sweeping powers to deny defendants and their lawyers access to case files, in addition to restricting defence arguments, which undermine the right to a fair trial. The new penal code also lacked a clear definition and punishment for enforced disappearances, despite the widespread use of this practice by Egyptian authorities, the international rights group said.
Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) also raised concerns about articles which expand the use of hearings by video conference across all stages of criminal proceedings. They said the practice would violate rights to due process and hinder the ability of defendants to consult confidentially with their lawyers.
Ehab El Tamawy, a member of the majority pro-Sisi Mostaqbal Watan party in parliament who was involved in the revision of the penal code, hailed the amendments as a significant human rights achievement.
Mr El Tamawy said the new provisions were thorough and had been reached after lengthy debate involving all political groups in Egypt.
“The new law does respect the sanctity of the home and of people’s private conversations. That’s why there is a provision requiring a judge to approve exceptions to this and another requiring that the surveillance be carried out for a limited amount of time,” Mr El Tamawy said during a televised phone-in to a popular talk show on Tuesday. “The previous law was based on a constitution from 1923. The last time it was changed was in 1950. 75 years ago.”
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
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At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
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6.5 billion litres of water saved
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
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How do Sim card scams work?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards by claiming to be the victim, often pretending their phone has been lost or stolen in order to secure a new Sim.
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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