CAIRO (AFP) -
Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday enacted a decree allowing
military trials for civilians suspected of attacking state
infrastructure, after a string of deadly attacks on soldiers.
The
decree came after Sisi promised a tough response to what he called an
"existential threat" to Egypt posed by militants, following an attack
Friday on an army checkpoint in the Sinai that killed at least 30
soldiers.
It places state infrastructure including electricity
towers, major thoroughfares and bridges under military protection for
two years, allowing the army to try anyone suspected of attacking the
public facilities.
"Crimes against public institutions, facilities
and properties fall under the jurisdiction of the military judiciary,"
the decree states.
Egypt has witnessed a surge in militant attacks
since the army, then led by Sisi, ousted Islamist president Mohamed
Morsi from power in July 2013.
Morsi's ouster also unleashed a deadly police crackdown on his supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands in jail.
The
government has cracked down on protests after Morsi's overthrow,
passing a law that banned all but police-sanctioned demonstrations.
The
military was already empowered with trying civilians for attacks on the
army, but Sisi's decree considerably expands its powers by defining
state infrastructure as "military facilities."
Sisi's spokesman, Alaa Youssef, told AFP the decree was not meant to target protests but would deal only with "terrorism".
"There is a big difference between attacking public installations and protesting," he said. "They are two different things."
The law, he said, was aimed at "protecting public installations and utilities from terrorist attacks."
Rights groups say military trials can carry swift and harsh verdicts.
An
end to civilians appearing before military tribunals was a core demand
of the revolutionaries who spearheaded a 2011 uprising that overthrew
veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Following Mubarak's ouster,
thousands of people accused of a range of crimes were tried before
military courts during an army-led transition before Morsi's election in
mid-2012.