Egypt draft constitution adopted, goes to referendum
EGYPT: Egypt's constituent assembly early Friday adopted a draft
constitution that will be put to a referendum, chairman Hossam el-Ghiriani
announced.
The Islamist-dominated assembly, boycotted by liberals and
Christians, approved the 234 articles in a marathon meeting that started
shortly after noon on Thursday and went on all night.
The text, adopted unanimously according to Ghiriani, was to be sent
to President Mohamed Morsi and a referendum held in two weeks.
The opposition, which has mobilised unprecedented rallies since Morsi
assumed broad powers last week, accuses the president and allies in the
constituent assembly of railroading the charter through for a quick
referendum.
The constitution will replace the one suspended after president Hosni
Mubarak's overthrow in early 2011. The opposition mostly disagreed with
the rushed manner in which the assembly was operating and opposes some
of the draft charter's provisions on rights and freedoms.
Christians objected to an article that seeks to narrow the meaning of
“the principles of Islamic law” to the tenets of Sunni Muslim
jurisprudence.
Heba Morayef, Human Rights Watch Egypt director, said some of the
draft articles on freedom of expression and religion resemble a “penal
code”.
“Some of the provisions are penal code provisions. You don't list all
the things that you are not allowed to do, you're supposed to set up the
rights and limitations,” she said.
A number of private newspapers announced that they would not appear
on the street on Tuesday to protest at what they consider to be a lack
of press guarantees in the new charter.
Abdallah Sennawi, a member of the Committee to Defend Freedom of
Expression and Thought, said private television channels would follow
suit on Wednesday.
Morsi's decree, described by the opposition as dictatorial, stripped
courts of the right to annul the controversial constituent assembly
ahead of an expected court ruling on Sunday.
AFP |