Amendments to the “Police Authority”: unlimited “national security” powers

Cairo | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi adopted the new amendments to the “Police Authority” law, which came into force immediately after publication in the “official gazette”, to quickly strengthen the control of the president and the minister. of the Interior on important agencies, the main one being Homeland Security, whose influence has been dramatically strengthened without precedent. In accordance with recent amendments, the authority of the Supreme Police Council, whose authority has become discretionary, has been expanded to make a decision regarding the officer who is being transferred or resigns and requests to return to work. You will have the right to return it only in this case without looking at the secret reports about it, as stipulated in the law that required at least a “good” estimate of the last two years, a step that will open the door to many agents who were forced to resign to regularize their situation or Run for elections to return without conditions.

Likewise, the city council (one of the oldest members of the police authority) has the right to permanently dismiss officers from their posts, in a step that will reinforce the process of exclusion of some officers in various locations for their political positions or background family members, and other judicial bodies will be excluded from the scene. Likewise, the amendment eliminated the position of “attorney general” and head of the “Cairo Court of Appeals” from the membership of the “Supreme Disciplinary Council” which has competence to judge officers with the rank of major general, therefore that the trial would be exclusively with the head of the “Supreme Council of Police” and the composition of three members elected by the Minister of the Interior, in addition to the head of the Department of Fatwa in the Council of State, on which, in turn, it would make the trial more political than judicial.

The powers of this apparatus were enhanced in a way that surpassed those of intelligence and other agencies.

In a similar way to the investments of the army, the Ministry of the Interior has the right to invest in accordance with the new amendments, which considered public funds the funds of the Ministry and its affiliated bodies, and that administrative embargo measures could be taken for their collection, which means the possibility of confiscating properties of land, real estate and bank balances to whom money is owed. To the ministry. Likewise, “National Security” will have its participation in the investments, once it has acquired the right to “dispose of the waste resulting from its activities, which includes seized funds, cash or its equivalent, and use its income to spend them on construction work. maintenance of its facilities “. It makes it a ministry within the ministry, independent of itself from the various branches of the ministry. Consequently, the “National” (formerly “State Security”) is the biggest winner of the amendments. Its mission has become “to combat terrorism, organized and dangerous crime, and other crimes associated with it, and face threats directed at the domestic front”, while participating in the establishment of security policies and monitoring of their implementation. , noting that the amendments grant “the right to request access or reserve any file, data, documentation or obtain a copy of the same from the part in which these files are located … by reasoned court order”, to an extent that It will enhance the authority of NISS officers in an unprecedented way.
Among the striking additions is the right to monitor the problems faced by the state, measure the trends of public opinion in this regard, and submit reports to the competent authorities of the state so that they take the necessary measures to resolve them and contain their effects, while obliging officials appointed in the sector less than ten years ago (after their appointment) to pay the actual cost. For the expenses of the equipment, training and habilitation courses, missions and other things that they obtain to train them to work in the sector, in case their service ends due to resignation or transfer to a civil position outside the Ministry of the Interior or by your wish. The registration of officials in this apparatus was also restricted to “specific controls that will be approved, with the authority of the head of the agency to transfer any official to another party if he loses the conditions that they must meet … from his point of view ”, Which opens the door to personal evaluations. In addition, all retirees of the agency will not be allowed to make statements or information in the media without the official approval of the ministry, in compliance with the rule of total confidentiality even after the end of their service, while restricting their candidacy to the elections according to written declarations of the “Supreme Council of Police”. As for the rest of the amendments, they strengthened the authority of the officers, including the cancellation of the appointment of civilians to the position of directors of departments of civil servants and the appointment of a police officer to head them.

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