Egypt’s parliament passed a controversial NGO law on Tuesday amid criticism from local and international rights groups concerning regulations and "restrictions" imposed by the new law on civil work. The House of Representatives prepared a draft NGO law and presented it for discussion on November 14. The next day, it had approved all 89 articles of the law, despite criticism voiced by a number of political parties and civil society organisations. The parliament then sent the draft law to the State Council, a judicial body that reviews legislation, which approved the draft on Monday. The Ministry of Social Solidarity had prepared a draft NGO law, that was later dismissed by the parliament in favour of another draft prepared by one MP and backed by more than 200 members.

Source: Egypt Independent November 30, 2016 08:38 UTC