Egypt has agreed to revise a controversial article in an ‘anti-terror’ law, which threatens to imprison journalists for at least two years over their reporting on terrorist attacks in the country.

The Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Wednesday that the Egyptian cabinet agreed to replace the envisaged jail sentence with a heavy fine.

“The cabinet has agreed... to remove the prison sentence under Article 33 and replace it by strengthening the fine, which can range from 200,000 to 500,000 Egyptian pounds [between 23,000 and 58,000 euros, or 25,500 to 64,000 dollars],” MENA quoted government spokesman Hossam al-Qawish as saying.

The article threatened to imprison journalists for the publication of “false information on terrorist attacks that contradict official statements.”

It was introduced by the State Council shortly after the assassination of State Prosecutor Hisham Barakat, and a series of militant attacks that left at least 21 Egyptian soldiers dead in the Sinai Peninsula back in June.

The bill is presented as part of a crackdown on militants who have been carrying out attacks in the country since the ouster of Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, by the army in July of 2013.

The anti-terrorism law aims to further empower prosecutors to detain suspects for long periods of time and allow authorities to inspect the bank accounts of those accused of terror-related charges.

It was approved by the government on July 1, and is yet to be ratified by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The move by Cairo to make changes to the bill comes after human rights group Amnesty International slammed the law, calling it a “strike at the very heart of basic freedoms” in a recent report.

“The draconian new measures would effectively place a gag order on journalists attempting to independently report facts as they perceive them. It is a plain effort by the authorities to blackmail and intimidate journalists who challenge the official narrative,” Said Boumedouha, Amnesty’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said.

Last month, Egypt’s syndicate of journalists called on Sisi to express a clear stance on the crackdown on media by the country's police and the judiciary.

Cairo has already been under pressure over its harsh crackdown on peaceful anti-government protesters and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement since the ouster of Morsi, which has left more than 1,000 people dead.