sentenced 32 workers from the privately owned Tora Cement Company to two months’ imprisonment after they were convicted of participating in an unauthorized protest and “assaulting security forces”, despite the peaceful nature of their 55-day sit-in to protest at their dismissal. In December, the Military Court in Alexandria resumed the trial of 25 workers from the military-run Alexandria Shipyard Company. The trial started in May 2016 on charges that included “inciting the workers to strike”. The government and the official Egypt Trade Union Federation sought to deprive independent unions of the de facto recognition they had obtained in 2011 through a declaration issued by the then Minster of Manpower. The authorities continued to deny their legal recognition and hinder their ability to function freely through a range of measures.7 On 5 December parliament passed a new trade union law, replacing Law 35 of 1976, creating excessive requirements for unions to have at least 150 members to obtain legal recognition or face automatic dissolution. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS Despite an explicit constitutional provision recognizing the Nubian Indigenous people’s right to return to their traditional lands, the government continued to deny displaced Nubians the right to access their traditional lands, posing a threat to the preservation of their cultural, historical and linguistic identity. On 3 September, Nubian activists held a protest calling on the authorities to repeal a 2014 presidential decree that classified 16 villages on traditional Nubian lands as military zones and prohibited residents from living there. The police arrested 25 activists and detained them for three months.8 1. New legislation threatens judicial independence in Egypt (Press release, 27 April) 2. Egypt: NGO law threatens to annihilate human rights groups (Press release, 30 May) 3. Egypt: Former presidential candidate given jail term in bid to stop him running in 2018 election (Press release, 25 September) 156 4. Egypt: 10-year prison term for insulting President an outrageous assault on freedom of expression (Press release, 13 April) 5. Egypt: Seven men facing imminent execution after being tortured in custody (Press release, 16 June); Egypt: Four men facing imminent executions after grossly unfair military trial (MDE 12/6590/2017) 6. Egypt: Government must protect Coptic Christians targeted in string of deadly attacks in North Sinai (Press release, 1 March) 7. Egypt: On Labour Day – relentless assault on labour rights (MDE 12/6154/2017) 8. Egypt: Release 24 Nubian activists detained after protest calling for respect of their cultural rights (Press release, 12 September) EL SALVADOR Republic of El Salvador Head of state and government: Salvador Sánchez Cerén El Salvador’s high rate of gender-based violence continued to make it one of the most dangerous countries to be a woman. A total ban on abortion persisted, and women were convicted of aggravated homicide after suffering miscarriages or other obstetric emergencies. To combat violence, the government implemented a series of security measures, which did not comply with human rights standards. Measures were taken to address impunity for historical abuses; however, the executive and legislative branches of government admitted being in contempt of a 2016 Supreme Court judgment that declared the 1993 Amnesty Law unconstitutional. BACKGROUND El Salvador continued to have one of the world’s highest murder rates, although the number of homicides fell from 5,280 in 2016 to 3,605 in 2017. The figure for 2017 included 429 femicides. WOMEN’S RIGHTS Abortion continued to be prohibited in all circumstances, and carried criminal penalties for women and health care providers. Women from poor backgrounds were disproportionately affected. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) admitted a Amnesty International Report 2017/18