Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Saturday addressed parliament regarding President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's objections to several articles in the new criminal procedures bill, renewing the government's commitment to dialogue and cooperation with the legislative body. In his statement to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Madbouly said the president's observations on the bill "embody the political leadership's keenness to consolidate the pillars of rights and freedoms in all their forms." The bill, which was passed by parliament in April and sent to the president for ratification, was returned by Al-Sisi last month for reconsideration. His office cited the need for "more guarantees for the sanctity of the home and the rights of the accused," as well as the need to increase alternatives to pre-trial detention and remove any ambiguity in the wording. "If the council and the government have striven to their utmost ability to make the provisions of the bill balanced and just, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi saw that there are guarantees that can be added and clarifications that can make the texts more explicit," Madbouly told the lawmakers. He acknowledged parliament's "significant impact" in enriching the draft law through "extensive studies and discussions" and praised its "mature legislative vision." He added that this was not the first time a bill had been returned to parliament, citing previous examples in 1978 and 2020. At the beginning of his statement, the prime minister congratulated the members of parliament on the start of their sixth session and thanked them for their "tireless work" over the past five years amid "extremely difficult regional and global circumstances." Madbouly concluded by renewing the government's commitment to "dialogue, cooperation, and integration with the House of Representatives… out of concern for the country's interest and a desire for the legislative system to emerge in its final form as a model of discipline, accuracy, justice, and respect for human rights, befitting the status of Egypt and its great people."
