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Egypt Factions Scramble as Deadline Nears on Constitution
Egypt Factions Scramble as Deadline Nears on Constitution
(about 7 hours later)
CAIRO — Courts and factions engaged in a frantic last-minute scramble on Wednesday in a struggle for power over the culmination of Egypt’s political transition after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The two highest appellate courts went on strike, the Supreme Constitutional Court accused the president of blackmail, the Islamist leaders of the constitutional assembly rushed to complete the charter by the end of the day, and the Muslim Brotherhood called for a major demonstration Saturday to show off its own political muscle.
CAIRO — Leaders of the assembly drafting a new constitution said Wednesday that they would complete their work by the next morning, a move that appeared aimed at trying to defuse a political crisis that has gripped Egypt since the president issued an edict that put his decisions above judicial scrutiny.
The dueling marked an escalation in a two-front war pitting Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, against the country’s courts on one side and against a galvanized opposition in the streets on the other that drew hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to Tahrir Square a day earlier in the biggest demonstration against Mr. Morsi since his election in June.
If successful, the assembly could make moot the power struggle between President Mohamed Morsi and the courts because the president’s expanded powers were set to expire with the implementation of a new constitution.
The uproar was set off by Mr. Morsi’s attempt six days ago to declare his own edicts above judicial scrutiny and thus eliminate the last check on his power until the approval of a new constitution. But Mr. Morsi’s gambit and the ensuing backlash are all aimed at the looming deadline of Sunday, when the Supreme Constitutional Court is expected to issue a ruling that could dissolve the constitutional assembly and once again upend Egypt’s chaotic transition.
But given the heated environment, it seemed just as likely that a draft constitution — one adopted over the objections of the opposition — would instead inflame an escalating political battle between Mr. Morsi and his critics. On Tuesday the opposition brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets to denounce his attempt to assert a power above the courts and over the Islamist domination of the assembly drafting the national charter.
Mr. Morsi has said he meant to head off the possibility that the Supreme Constitutional Court might dissolve the constitutional assembly before it can complete its work. Courts have already dissolved the recently elected Parliament, as well as an earlier constitutional assembly. And while some judges on the constitutional court are esteemed as impartial jurists, its members were all picked by Mr. Mubarak. Some are considered political loyalists, and others have expressed deep fears of the Islamists.
The dual battles raging with the courts and in the streets began six days ago with Mr. Morsi’s decree. But both his attempt to claim the new powers and the opposition backlash are fired by the deadline on Sunday of a court ruling that could short-circuit the writing of the constitution by breaking up the assembly. Courts have already dissolved an earlier assembly as well as the newly elected Parliament.
The constitutional assembly’s announcement of its intent to wrap up a draft constitution by Thursday has the potential to moot the institutional battle but inflame the political standoff. The assembly may produce a document that could be sent to a referendum even if the court dissolves the assembly, unless the court seeks to strike down the draft along with the assembly. Or the court might refer the fate of the assembly to another panel, the administrative court, prolonging the uncertainty.
Mr. Morsi has said he issued the edict because he learned the Supreme Constitutional Court was poised on Sunday to strike down the current assembly, disrupting Egypt’s already chaotic transition.
But the assembly’s rush is also arousing charges that it is now letting politics hasten the drafting of a document intended as the definitive social contract to last for years to come. Many of the non-Islamists on the 100-member panel — about a quarter, according to the best estimates — have already walked out, damaging hopes that it might be presented as a product of consensus. Many have complained that the Islamists running the assembly were closing off debates in an attempt to push the document through before the court deadline, and some have raised technical issues about executives powers, election rules or the place of Islamic law in the text.
While some judges on the court are esteemed as impartial, all its members were picked by the former president, Hosni Mubarak. Some are loyalists, and others have deep fears of the Islamists.
Hossam El-Gheriani, the chief of the assembly, appealed Wednesday for the boycotters to return for the final consideration on Thursday; voting on the charter is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. “Come back to us so that we welcome you and you can be our partner in issuing the constitution,” he said. “This is your natural place from which you serve Egypt, not in your political party, in the street or the square; this is the square.” Thursday “will be a wonderful day in the history of this assembly, and everybody should receive the honor of this glorious day.”
The Constitutional Assembly’s announcement of its intent to wrap up the draft constitution by Thursday could render the case irrelevant. The assembly’s charter might be sent to a referendum even if the court dissolved the chamber, unless the court nullifies the draft charter along with the assembly.
But as a practical matter, the Islamist majority in the assembly could pass the charter on its own, and probably pass it in a public referendum as well. Advisers to Mr. Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood whose Freedom and Justice Party leads the assembly, have said they would be willing to do so. They argue that the liberals and others who left the assembly recently had influenced it before they quit, and they suspect some of seeking to spoil the assembly’s work to deprive the Islamists of a political victory ahead of parliamentary elections. Turning directly to the voters, Mr. Morsi’s advisers say, is the only way to break the deadlock and establish legitimacy.
But the assembly’s rush is also prompting charges that it is letting politics cramp the drafting of a document intended as the definitive social contract. “Nonsensical,” Amr Moussa, a former diplomat under Mr. Mubarak and a former rival candidate to Mr. Morsi, told Reuters.
However, Mr. Morsi’s own bid to extend his power over the courts for the duration of the assembly suffered a serious blow on Wednesday when the Court of Cassation and the Cairo Appeals Court announced that they were joining a national judges strike in protest of his decree. In the Egyptian judicial system, the two panels are the highest courts for appeals. And unlike the Supreme Constitutional Court, their judges are selected by their peers on the basis of seniority and accomplishment, so they cannot be dismissed as Mubarak loyalists.
Many of the non-Islamists on the 100-hundred member panel — about a quarter, according to the best estimates —have already walked out, damaging hopes that the constitution might be presented as consensus document.
Judge Yousri Abel Kareem, a member of the Cairo Appeals Court, said in a television interview that work was now suspended “in all civil and criminal circuits” until the president withdrew his decree and reinstated the Mubarak-appointed chief prosecutor he had sought to fire. “The General Assembly was definitive and clear,” he said.
In recent weeks, many have complained that the Islamists running the assembly were closing off debates in an attempt to push through the document.
Hossam Bahgat, the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent human rights group, said the strike was “unprecedented and could be a game changer.” Together with the demonstration the night before, Mr. Bahgat said, the court’s action “dispels the myth the president is only opposed by Mubarak-appointed judges and ‘liberal whiners.’ ”
Hossam el-Gheriani, the chief of the assembly, said Wednesday that voting would begin at 10 a.m. the next day. “Come back to us so that we welcome you and you can be our partner,” he pleaded with the boycotters.
The cassation court’s decision to join the strike cast doubt on what the president’s spokesman has described as an agreement the president reached Monday night with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, a top panel overseeing the courts. After the council held a long meeting with Mr. Morsi, his spokesman described an understanding with the council on an interpretation of the president’s decree that narrowed the scope of his claim to new powers so that it might fit within Egyptian court precedents and not go over the courts. He said that the president had sought to act under a doctrine known as “acts of sovereignty” that could allow him to issue decrees to keep the constitutional assembly in business, and the spokesman later said the council endorsed the idea.
As a practical matter, the Islamist majority in the assembly could pass the charter on its own, and probably muster the votes to pass it in a public referendum as well, which the president’s advisers said he was willing to accept.
But the president of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary is also the chief of the Court of Cassation, so its decision to join the judges’ strike suggests that the council may not agree with even the narrower understanding offered by the president. Legal experts have also noted that the spokesman’s interpretation is not legally binding unless it is printed in the official gazette.
Mr. Morsi’s own bid to expand his power for the duration of the transition suffered a blow on Wednesday when the Court of Cassation and the Cairo Appeals Court announced that they were joining a national judges strike in protest of his decree.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Constitutional Court fired back at the president in its first statement since his decree on Thursday. “The constitutional court has been under a fierce, unjust and organized attack” since it dissolved the Parliament, Judge Maher Sami said in a televised statement.
The two benches are the two highest appeals courts in Egypt. And unlike the Supreme Constitutional Court, their judges are selected by their peers on the basis of seniority and accomplishment, so they cannot be dismissed as Mubarak loyalists.
The Islamists “came under the illusion that a personal enmity exists between them and the judges of this court, and they started having bloody revenge tendencies, and the desire for retribution was created among them which caused them to lose reason, conscience and morality,” he said. And he accused the faction of “spreading the dark, thick, black dust around the constitutional courts and its judges: heaping accusations and spreading rumors to morally and materially assassinate this court, endeavoring in that to distort its reputation and image, incite against it, pouring dirt on its judges and staining their reputation and honor.”
“It is unprecedented and could be a game changer,” said Hossam Bahgat, the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent human rights group.
“The court will not be deterred by threats, menace or blackmail and will not yield to any pressures,” he said, adding, “It’s ready to stand up to all this no matter how high the cost, even if the price is the lives of its judges.”
Together with the demonstration the night before, Mr. Bahgat said, the court’s action “dispels the myth the president is only opposed by Mubarak-appointed judges and ‘liberal whiners.’ ”
Mayy
El-Sheikh contributed reporting.
The cassation court’s decision to join the strike also cast doubt on what the president’s spokesman has described as an agreement about the issue that the president reached Monday night with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, a top panel overseeing the courts.
After the council held a long meeting with Mr. Morsi, his spokesman described an understanding with the council on an interpretation of the president’s decree that narrowed its scope so that it might fit within Egyptian court precedents.
But the president of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary is also the chief of the Court of Cassation, and so the decision by the Cassation Court to join the judges’ strike suggests that the Supreme Council may not have agreed.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Constitutional Court fired back at the president in its first statement since his decree. “The Constitutional Court has been under a fierce, unjust and organized attack” since it dissolved the Parliament, Judge Maher Sami said in a televised statement.
Since then, he said, the Islamists “became under the illusion that a personal enmity exists between them and the judges of this court, and they started having bloody revenge tendencies, and the desire for retribution caused them to lose reason, conscience and morality.”
“The court will not be deterred by threats, menace or blackmail,” the statement continued.
