Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's Promise for Stronger Action by Egypt's Judiciary

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attended the funeral of Egypt's Attorney General on Tuesday, who was killed the previous day by a bomb placed in a car. He stated that judicial reforms would be announced in the coming days to facilitate a harsher crackdown on extremist groups. Hisham Barakat, the Attorney General, is the highest-ranking Egyptian official killed in recent years. This attack has raised doubts about the Egyptian government's ability to contain extremist Islamist groups that have targeted senior officials in recent months. Earlier this month, a suicide bomber detonated himself near the Karnak Temple in Luxor, one of Egypt's main tourist sites and a significant source of tourism revenue. El-Sisi participated in the military funeral of Hisham Barakat, held at a mosque in the outskirts of Cairo. In his speech, he emphasized the need for swift judicial reforms to combat the threat posed by extremist groups, stating, "The law has tied the hands of justice. We will not wait. We will not wait five or ten years to prosecute those who kill us." The memorial and burial ceremony for Barakat coincided with the second anniversary of widespread protests that led to the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi's government in July 2013 by the military under General el-Sisi's command. Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed due to attacks by armed Islamist groups, primarily in the Sinai region of northern Egypt. El-Sisi, in another part of his speech, announced that he would reveal the judicial reforms in the coming days without detailing his plan. He added, "When a death sentence is issued, it will be carried out, and when a life sentence is issued, it will be enforced." Since the military ousted Morsi and banned the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian judiciary has sentenced hundreds of members and supporters of the group to death, including Morsi himself. The Egyptian government has also expanded the jurisdiction of military courts, allowing them to try civilians accused of terrorist crimes. This is part of a broader crackdown by el-Sisi's administration, which initially targeted Islamists but has gradually included civil activists and opposition politicians. Reuters reports that Western governments have criticized the widespread death sentences issued by Egyptian courts but are unlikely to take serious action against a government seen as a partner in combating instability and crisis in the region. Judicial sources in Egypt indicated that proposed reforms might reduce the number of appeals in courts from two to one and grant judges full authority over witness statements. Some judges in Egypt have been accused of openly siding with the government in their rulings against Islamists, but the judiciary claims to be fully independent from the government and military.