Administrative Court applies appeal on protest law

Administrative court headed by Judge Mohamed Qeshta allowed lawyer Khaled Ali to appeal articles number 8 and 10 of the protest law in front of the constitutional court Tuesday. A number of women activists protested in front of the court headquarter and raised posters and banners denouncing the protest law. Ali argued that while the 2014 Constitution stipulates that authorities should be notified of protests in advance, the protest law sets the authorities’ approval as a prerequisite. He said that this “contradiction” poses the question whether the law is made to “regulate” protests or “restrict” them. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Center to support state law, previously filed a lawsuit on the unconstitutionality of the protest law. Ali appealed in the hearing session on Monday 16 the unconstitutionality of article 8 of the protest law and affirmed the right of freedom of expression as one of the guarantees freedom guaranteed by successive Egyptian constitutions. Anonymous judicial source affirmed that former interim President Adly Mansour, now head of the constitutional court, will not consider the appeal himself since the law was issued under power during the transitional period.