President, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has approved stringent new counter-terrorism laws to fight a growing Islamist insurgency which has taken grip of Egypt in the past two years. The laws establish special courts and offer additional protection from legal consequences for military and police officers who have used force.

According to the law, death penalty can be imposed on anyone found guilty of setting up or leading a terrorist group. Rights groups say the legislation will be used to crush dissent, lock up opponents and impose further restrictions on freedom of expression.

Under the new laws introduced today, anyone found guilty of joining a militant group could face ten years in prison, while financing terrorist groups carry a penalty of life in prison.

Inciting violence or creating websites deemed to spread terrorist messages will carry sentences of five to seven years and journalists can be fined between two hundred thousand and five hundred thousand Egyptian pounds for contradicting official accounts of militant attacks.