EGYPT-VIOLENCE/FUNERAL Military funeral for slain Egypt prosecutor

Record ID: 149020

  • Title: EGYPT-VIOLENCE/FUNERAL Military funeral for slain Egypt prosecutor
  • Date: 30th June 2015
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JUNE 30, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SECURITY AT FUNERAL EGYPTIAN FLAGS SISI SUPPORTERS HELICOPTER
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA844KJI46KLZ4JF81SHIY69VJU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As Egypt's top public prosecutor was given a military funeral on Tuesday (June 30) the country's president vowed law changes will be brought in to impose swift sentences against suspected militants.
    The prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, is the most senior state official to die at the hands of militants since Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was toppled two years ago.
    Judges and other state officials have increasingly been targeted by radical Islamists opposed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and angered by hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
    Monday's (June 29) car bomb attack which killed Barakat has stirred debate about the authorities' ability to contain an Islamist insurgency in Egypt.
    Sisi, speaking at a military funeral for Barakat, said the militant threat required legal reforms.
    "We will not wait for this, we will not wait for this. We'll amend the legislation in a way that will enable us to enforce the law and justice as quickly as possible. We'll bring justice as quickly as possible. Within days, the laws will be presented, the right laws of criminal procedures that parallel the developments that we're facing. We're facing terrorism, therefore there must be laws that parallel that and trials that parallel that. We will not take 5 to 10 years to try those killing us. They give out the orders from their prison cells and their orders become reality while we're carrying out the law. We will respect the law, but we will amend it so that it's parallel to what we're facing," said Sisi.
    Security officials and members of Barakat's family dressed in black flanked Sisi at the ceremony, which fell on the second anniversary of the unrest preceding Mursi's overthrow. The government had announced a holiday, but Sisi's office cancelled celebrations and Cairo streets remained largely empty.
    "We have not taken any exceptional measures yet, and you don't know what the state's grip looks like. [A man in the background says, "We want death sentences, Mr President."]. Please, please, we're enforcing the law; if there's a verdict for a death sentence, then there's a death sentence to be served and if there's a life verdict, a life verdict will be served. The law, the judiciary - that's what we want, immediately," Sisi added.
    He did not specify what changes he envisioned but said they would be unveiled "within days".
    Judicial sources told Reuters the amendments would restrict the number of appeals to one from two and give judges the final say on which witnesses could testify.
    Some of Egypt's judges have drawn accusations of blatant bias in trials against Islamists, but the judiciary says it is independent of the government and military.
    Amnesty International released a report on Tuesday accusing the authorities of jailing young activists to quell unrest, charges the government denies.
    Security forces on Tuesday arrested a man accused of claiming responsibility for the attack on Barakat via Facebook, security sources said. The post was later removed and the sources said there is nothing linking the man to the operation.
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