Egypt’s leader lifts four-year state of emergency

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has announced that he’s ending the state of emergency which has been in force since April 2017 in the North African country.

In a Facebook post, President Sisi announced that he would not be extending the state of emergency because Egypt had become “an oasis of security and stability”.

He imposed the strict measure four years ago in the aftermath of the bombings of two churches in the northern cities of Alexandria and Tanta.

It gave police wider powers, curtailed civil liberties and put civilians on trial before military courts.

Egypt is no stranger to states of emergency. The late President Hosni Mubarak imposed one following the assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1981. It remained in place until he was toppled 30 years later.

Mr Sisi has been Egypt’s president since 2014, a year after he led the military’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

He was re-elected in 2018 in an election which was boycotted by the opposition and condemned by human rights groups.