CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian lawmaker said he planned to introduce a bill to punish those he called "rumors and false news" on social media, with the death penalty.
A member of the National Defense and Security Committee in the Egyptian House of Representatives Khaled Abu Talib said that he will submit the bill during the fifth session, which is scheduled to start in October, according to a statement issued by the deputy and published by Egyptian newspapers.
The Egyptian opposition criticizes what it calls the absence of parliament's role in censoring the government, as well as passing and proposing controversial laws.
The MP Abu Talib that the rumors are "one of the deadly weapons exploited by some parties that harm the evil of our homeland, with the aim of agitating public opinion and provoke confusion and destabilization of security and stability."
He added that there is a hidden hand rented and paid during these days trying to tamper with the minds of Egyptians, through accusations of insulting state symbols and spreading false and misleading news, to achieve malicious goals, and found from social networking sites fertile environment and a favorable climate that helped them to spread within minutes.
Parent Bookmark and Share Videos of Mohamed Ali
During the past few days, the videos of Egyptian actor and contractor Mohamed Ali topped the social media sites and gained the attention of the Egyptians.He accused the Egyptian president and army leaders of wasting billions of pounds of public money on personal interests, as well as projects without study or economic feasibility.
Mediamen affiliated with the regime launched a sharp attack on the contractor, stressing that it is aimed at undermining the reputation of the army and the government, and working to overthrow them, the same accusations made by Mohamed Ali lawyers through official communications.