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             Egypt's Sissi Vows Swift Justice After Car Bomb Attack

   by Associated Press

   Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday pledged to change
   laws "within days" to bring swift justice following a car bombing that
   killed the country's chief prosecutor, the first assassination of a top
   Egyptian official in a quarter century.
   Sissi said he would free the judiciary's hand in a "battle," adding
   that the country is ready for it. He spoke at the funeral for Hisham
   Barakat, the top judicial official overseeing the prosecution of
   thousands of Islamists, including the former president, Mohammed Morsi.
   "The judiciary is restricted by laws, and swift justice is also
   restricted by laws. We will not wait for that," Sissi said. "We will
   amend the laws to enable us to execute the law, and bring justice as
   soon as possible."
   Sissi led the procession, with hundreds of state officials and military
   men walking in unison as wreaths were laid for what the media
   unanimously described as the death of a "hero" and "martyr."
   Television programs suspended all other broadcasts until 7 p.m. to show
   footage of the funeral, images of Monday's bombing and its aftermath,
   and religious blessings for Barakat.

   ''Security was boosted across the capital ahead of the funeral, with
   armored personnel carriers positioned across town from early in the day
   and additional checkpoints set up.
   Authorities had declared June 30 - the second anniversary of mass
   street protests that led to the ouster of Morsi, Sissi's predecessor,
   by the military - a national holiday, but also cancelled all official
   celebrations in a sign of mourning for Barakat.
   The funeral was held at the Tantawi Mosque - a newly built house of
   worship dedicated to the retired field marshal who ran Egypt under a
   military council in the year between the ouster of longtime autocrat
   Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and Morsi's election. Newspapers ran front page
   photos of Barakat's motorcade in flames.
   Brotherhood blamed
   Authorities and pro-government TV networks had quickly blamed Morsi's
   Muslim Brotherhood, which they consider a terrorist group, for the
   assignation, broadly accusing it of orchestrating violence.
   Since Morsi's overthrow, they have launched a crackdown on the group,
   and other Islamists killing hundreds, detaining tens of thousands, and
   handing out mass death sentences against them in trials harshly
   criticized as lacking due process.
   In a thinly veiled reference to the group, Sissi blamed the violence on
   those "issuing orders from behind bars," and said Egypt was ready to
   brush international criticisms aside, and stand up to the world.
   "You don't know the grip of the state," he said, adding that "if there
   is a death sentence, it will be carried out... If there is a life
   sentence, it will be carried out."
   Following Morsi's overthrow in 2013 by then-army chief Sissi, a long
   running insurgency by Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula surged
   dramatically, with regular attacks on police and military forces
   killing hundreds. Attacks also targeted army and police forces
   elsewhere across the country, and one main extremist group has pledged
   allegiance to the Islamic State group and says it wants to expand
   elsewhere in Egypt.
   Violence continued even as Egypt prepared for Barakat's funeral. In the
   northern Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweyid, a mortar shell allegedly fired
   by extremists at an army position fell on a private residence, killing
   two children and wounding three others, family members said. And in the
   city of Beni Suef along the Nile River south of Cairo, security
   officials said gunmen opened fire on a police car, killing a sergeant
   and wounding four others.
   The family members spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
   repercussions, while the security officials did the same because they
   were not authorized to brief journalists.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ap-egypt-president-hisham-barakat-fun
   eral/2842783.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ap-egypt-president-hisham-barakat-funeral/2842783.html