Egypt's Morsi challenged to back down ... again
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
Cairo (dpa) - Since taking office in July, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has backed down twice in conflicts with the judiciary. Now, following his controversial constitutional amendments last week, some wonder if he will take the same path a third time.
Morsi's decree - to make his decisions immune to judicial review and to bar courts from dissolving the Islamist-controlled assembly drafting a new constitution - has ignited fury across the country, with sit-ins in Tahrir Square, plans for a mass demonstration and judges on strike for what they call a move to undermine democracy.
This is the third stand-off between the president and judges since July.
In October, Morsi made his first attempt to sack prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, but top judges later challenged the attempt as unconstitutional. Subsequently, the presidency denied any official decree had been made in the first place.
In July, Morsi ordered the restoration of the lower house of parliament, dissolved by the country's highest Constitutional Court in June on the grounds that the electoral law was unconstitutional. That Morsi decree was also soon blocked by the courts.
This time, Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council, several top politicians and revolutionary figures have all called upon Morsi to back down on his latest decree.
However, after a long meeting with his advisory team on Monday, Morsi only said that his decision is temporary, until a new constitution is finalized. He pledged to engage all political forces in dialogue to "reach common ground."
The presidential statement did little to decrease the polarization in the country.
"Things in Egypt will get worse, divisions will increase and society will face real confrontations," analyst Amr al-Shobaky wrote.
"The elected president must back down on his last decision, or else Egypt will enter a dark tunnel and everything will be threatened, including the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood," he added.
Anger at the president's move has united many liberal, secular and leftist groups, whose divisions over the past year and a half cost them dearly in the country's various elections since dictator Hosny Mubarak was ousted in early 2011.
However, many were pleased by Morsi's renewed decision to replace Mahmoud, the top prosecutor, appointed by Mubarak, and to set up "revolutionary courts" to try former regime officials.
"Whereas these were revolutionary demands, the means to attain them was via empowering a president who already holds legislative and executive powers. Given the extreme polarization and distrust between Egypt's Islamist and secular forces, there are serious worries about empowering him further," said Omar Ashour, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.
"Distrust is one of the pillars of this crisis," he added.
On the other hand, the president has the support of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belonged before the election. The Brotherhood remains Egypt's most organized group and mobilized thousands of its followers in rallies to support Morsi's decree.
"The majority of Egyptians, and with them Muslim Brotherhood, fully support the president's decisions and seek to build constitutional institutions and achieve the demands of the people and the revolution," the brotherhood said in a statement.
They said the measures were necessary to prevent the courts from slowing down the country's moves towards stability by disbanding the constituent assembly, the second to be formed over the past year. The first one was dissolved by a court order in April.
Morsi's decrees have lost him the support of many who voted for him in July. They preferred Morsi over his opponent, Mubarak's last premier, Ahmed Shafiq, hoping that the Islamist candidate would usher in the changes people called for during the January 25 revolution of 2011.
The Strong Egypt party, founded by former Brotherhood member and presidential candidate Abdul-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, demanded on Tuesday that Morsi cancel the declaration, and only uphold his decisions on the prosecutor general and the special courts.
The party also called on "the Ministry of Interior to immediately halt all practices to suppress, assault and arrest protesters."
The battles between the president and the judges prompted some Morsi supporters to wonder if he "could have met the revolutionary demands in any other way."
"Yes, including, for example, issuing a new judicial law," Ashour said. "However, any law he issues could be struck down by the Constitutional Court judges. So it can be a meaningless circle."
Published on the Business Recorder
Cairo (dpa) - Since taking office in July, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has backed down twice in conflicts with the judiciary. Now, following his controversial constitutional amendments last week, some wonder if he will take the same path a third time.
Morsi's decree - to make his decisions immune to judicial review and to bar courts from dissolving the Islamist-controlled assembly drafting a new constitution - has ignited fury across the country, with sit-ins in Tahrir Square, plans for a mass demonstration and judges on strike for what they call a move to undermine democracy.
This is the third stand-off between the president and judges since July.
In October, Morsi made his first attempt to sack prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, but top judges later challenged the attempt as unconstitutional. Subsequently, the presidency denied any official decree had been made in the first place.
In July, Morsi ordered the restoration of the lower house of parliament, dissolved by the country's highest Constitutional Court in June on the grounds that the electoral law was unconstitutional. That Morsi decree was also soon blocked by the courts.
This time, Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council, several top politicians and revolutionary figures have all called upon Morsi to back down on his latest decree.
However, after a long meeting with his advisory team on Monday, Morsi only said that his decision is temporary, until a new constitution is finalized. He pledged to engage all political forces in dialogue to "reach common ground."
The presidential statement did little to decrease the polarization in the country.
"Things in Egypt will get worse, divisions will increase and society will face real confrontations," analyst Amr al-Shobaky wrote.
"The elected president must back down on his last decision, or else Egypt will enter a dark tunnel and everything will be threatened, including the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood," he added.
Anger at the president's move has united many liberal, secular and leftist groups, whose divisions over the past year and a half cost them dearly in the country's various elections since dictator Hosny Mubarak was ousted in early 2011.
However, many were pleased by Morsi's renewed decision to replace Mahmoud, the top prosecutor, appointed by Mubarak, and to set up "revolutionary courts" to try former regime officials.
"Whereas these were revolutionary demands, the means to attain them was via empowering a president who already holds legislative and executive powers. Given the extreme polarization and distrust between Egypt's Islamist and secular forces, there are serious worries about empowering him further," said Omar Ashour, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.
"Distrust is one of the pillars of this crisis," he added.
On the other hand, the president has the support of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belonged before the election. The Brotherhood remains Egypt's most organized group and mobilized thousands of its followers in rallies to support Morsi's decree.
"The majority of Egyptians, and with them Muslim Brotherhood, fully support the president's decisions and seek to build constitutional institutions and achieve the demands of the people and the revolution," the brotherhood said in a statement.
They said the measures were necessary to prevent the courts from slowing down the country's moves towards stability by disbanding the constituent assembly, the second to be formed over the past year. The first one was dissolved by a court order in April.
Morsi's decrees have lost him the support of many who voted for him in July. They preferred Morsi over his opponent, Mubarak's last premier, Ahmed Shafiq, hoping that the Islamist candidate would usher in the changes people called for during the January 25 revolution of 2011.
The Strong Egypt party, founded by former Brotherhood member and presidential candidate Abdul-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, demanded on Tuesday that Morsi cancel the declaration, and only uphold his decisions on the prosecutor general and the special courts.
The party also called on "the Ministry of Interior to immediately halt all practices to suppress, assault and arrest protesters."
The battles between the president and the judges prompted some Morsi supporters to wonder if he "could have met the revolutionary demands in any other way."
"Yes, including, for example, issuing a new judicial law," Ashour said. "However, any law he issues could be struck down by the Constitutional Court judges. So it can be a meaningless circle."
Published on the Business Recorder
