Egypt arrests 3 under terror law for spreading IS ideology

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian police have arrested three individuals under a new anti-terrorism law who are accused of spreading Islamic State propaganda through Facebook.

The police directorate in the southern Sohag province said Sunday the three had two laptops containing IS videos.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi approved a draconian law last week that sets a wide-ranging definition of terrorism and prescribes harsh punishments.

El-Sissi has waged a crackdown on Islamists and other opponents since 2013, when he led the military overthrow of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, during mass protests against his rule.

Following Morsi's ouster, a long-running insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula surged, with attacks targeting security forces there and on the mainland. The most powerful insurgent group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group last year.