Egyptian president al-Sisi convenes parliament for first time in three years

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for Egypt’s parliament to convene for the first time in three years. He has set a January 10 date for the chamber, which has 568 elected members plus another 28 appointed by the president himself, to meet. It follows elections in November, although they were tainted by claims of a heavy security crackdown on Islamist and other opposition groups. The new parliament is dominated by an alliance loyal to Mr Sisi.

I will take immediate measures against any member’s speech that is considered disrespectful or insulting

Islamic scholar Amna Noseir, who will head the new parliament

Egypt’s last parliament was elected in 2011-12 in its first free election, following a popular uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year presidency. The Muslim Brotherhood, long the main opposition movement, won about half the seats while the Islamist Nour bloc was the second biggest group. A court dissolved that parliament in mid-2012. A year later, Sisi, then military chief, removed President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood from power after mass protests against his rule. The Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, was banned, declared a terrorist organisation and thousands of members were jailed.

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