Egypt police banned from providing information to media

Egypt's parliament has passed amendments to laws governing police and preventing them from providing information to the media, as the country's authorities continue a crackdown on dissidence.

The House of Representatives approved the changes to the Police Services Act on Tuesday, banning police from giving out "confidential" information or publishing documents about their work without written authorisation from the interior ministry.

The new law sets a fine of up to 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,252) and unspecified prison terms for offending police officers.

It also bars police from taking part in demonstrations and joining "partisan or religious entities and trade unions."

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a crackdown on police abuses, following public outcry against a string of incidents this year where low-ranking police officers used deadly force against civilians.

In April, a police officer shot three people dead in Cairo during a heated argument over the price of a cup of tea.

Another policeman shot dead a tuk-tuk driver in February, using his official firearm following an argument over the price of ferrying goods, setting off protests in a Cairo neighbourhood.

	Unnamed police have exposed state secrets to media [Getty]

The amendments have also barred police from using their weapons in "unauthorised" situations. However, the move has been seen by critics as an attempt to keep police from exposing high-level abuses.

In April, six unnamed intelligence officials and police sources told Reuters that an Italian student, who was tortured and murdered in Egypt, had been detained by police and then transferred to a compound run by Homeland Security the day he vanished.

The report led authorities to threaten legal action against the news agency for publishing "false news aimed at disturbing public order" and "spreading rumours to harm Egypt's reputation".

Earlier this year, Egypt's Press Syndicate denounced what it called a decline in press freedoms and accused the regime of being "at war" with the profession.

Human rights activists accuse Sisi of running suppressed all opposition since toppling Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.