CAIRO — The Egyptian government has set its mind on finding a new legislation that would accelerate litigation procedures in terrorism crimes to a very tight timeline, with 30 days maximum as the government’s decisive measure to combat terrorism. However, it opens the door for exceptional procedures and widening the circle of suspects under the guise of “implementing justice.”

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi used the concept of “implementing justice” in one of his speeches about the importance of amending laws and passing additional sanctions against extremists and terrorist organizations, particularly after the assassination of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in June 2015. Sisi said during Barakat’s funeral on June 30, 2015, “The hands of justice are shackled by laws.”

Sisi used the same concept again during his speech at the funeral of the victims of the St. Peter and St. Paul Church explosion on Dec. 12, when he said, “The laws are chaining, and the judiciary will never work decisively amid the current laws.”

One day after Sisi’s speech, the parliament made the first move not only to amend laws, but to propose the possibility of amending the constitution. “To allow the military judiciary to look into terrorism crimes, we will amend the constitution accordingly,” parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said in the parliament’s general session on Dec. 13.