SAIS Review of International Affairs

Abstract:

Analysis of current counterterrorism laws shows that Egypt's discourse on the subject has nothing to do with its war against terror. Instead, this discourse seeks to serve the interests of many institutions like the armed forces, the ministry of the interior, the neoliberal elites, and proponents of the old regime. As a result, the various antiterrorism laws (e.g., Law 94 of 2015, Law 107 of 2013, Law 180 of 2019, Law 149 of 2018, and Law 62 of 1958 with its recent amendments of 2020) exist side-by-side with legislation that restricts freedoms, blocks public and digital spheres, and labels any kind of protest or attempt to change the regime as a terrorist act. In fact, this arsenal of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency legislation has become an integral and indispensable component of a larger and holistic (legal, discursive, and material) system of control. This paper reveals how the regime employs what is labelled as "cyber Baltaga" (digital thuggery) to preserve and consolidate its domination of both the public and the cyber spheres.