[This is a collection of news updates on Egypt compiled from multiple sources by the editors.]
Nour Party to Participate in Amending Constitution
The Salafi-led Nour Party will push for the inclusion of five of its members in the fifty-person committee tasked with amending the constitution, officially announcing its participation in the process, Al-Ahram reported.
Abdullah Badran, a member of the party’s supreme council, reiterated that the party is adamant on keeping articles 2 and 219, which explains the principles of Sharia, as is.
In statements to Al-Ahram, Badran said that although the party has reservations, it has decided to participate in the process, hoping that the sessions in which the committee drafts the amendments are public.
The party is expected to issue a statement detailing its stance towards participating in the process, as well as naming its nominees for the committee.
A ten-person committee is scheduled to submit its final amendments to the draft constitution to interim President Adly Mansour on Sunday, after which the document will be referred to the fifty-person committee, as per Article 29 of the Constitutional Declaration issued by Adly last month.
The broader committee of fifty people is expected to represent the diversity of society, including the various political parties, workers and farmers, syndicate members, national councils, and representatives from Al-Azhar, the Church, the Armed Forces, and the police.
This committee will approve the amendments within two months, then present them to the president, who will in turn put them up for referendum within a maximum of thirty days.
Some observers have criticized the constitutional stipulation that concerns the two committees, saying that amendments should go through a larger group of political representatives first and be fine-tuned later by judicial figures, rather than the other way around.
If all goes according to schedule, Egypt is slated to hit the polls to ratify a new constitution in November.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Mubarak Trial Postponed to 14 September
The Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Mahmoud Kamel al-Rashidy, decided Sunday to postpone the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, in which he is accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the eighteen-day popular uprising in 2011, to 14 September.
The case also involves charges of squandering public money through the Israel gas-exporting deal and destroying relevant documents related to the killings.
Mubarak`s two sons, Gamal and Alaa, fugitive businessman Hussien Salem, and former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six of his assistants are also on trial in the same case.
Farid al-Deeb, defense lawyer for the former president, objected to the court`s decision to combine the two cases— the protesters` killing and the squandering of public wealth— claiming that as a result Alaa and Gamal are falsely incriminated in the former.
The court had approved the formation a of tripartite committee composed of two senior armed forces officers and a forensic doctor to review the evidence of ammunitions and weapons used in the case of the demonstrators` killings.
Last year, Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of more than 800 protesters. Later, a court accepted his appeal for retrial.
General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat ordered the release of Mubarak last week, as he has served the maximum amount of pre-trial detention permitted in the case.
Mubarak will remain under house arrest as per a decision by Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi in his capacity as deputy military commander under the rules of the Emergency Law currently in place.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Badie, Shater Trial Adjourned to 29 October
The trial of Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, his deputy Khairat al-Shater, and four other Brotherhood leaders was adjourned on Sunday to 29 October, state run news site Egynews reported.
The Cairo Criminal Court adjourned the trial because the defendants were not present due to security concerns, the site said.
The six Brotherhood leaders are accused of murder and inciting the killing of protesters in front of the group’s headquarters in Moqattam on 30 June.
Badie, Shater, and Mohamed Rashad Bayoumi, another Brotherhood leader, are accused of conspiring with and inciting the three other defendants and other unidentified assailants to kill protesters. They are also charged with possession of explosives, rifles, and other weapons.
The general prosecution had previously announced that there is enough evidence to implicate the defendants in the murder of peaceful protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters.
On 30 June, there were mass protests against the rule of then President Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood, as called for by the Tamarod (rebel) petition campaign. This led to clashes outside the Brotherhood`s headquarters, during which eight people were killed.
Shater was arrested on 2 July, and Badie was arrested on 20 August.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Pro-Brotherhood Preacher Hegazy Charged With Attempted Murder
The detained Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy is slapped with fifteen-day detention pending investigation.
Egyptian prosecution charged on Saturday detained Islamist preacher and Muslim Brotherhood loyalist Safwat Hegazy with attempted murder and inciting violence at two Cairo sit-ins.
Hegazy faces several charges, including attempted murder and incitement of violence against opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi amid pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo`s Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square and Giza’s Al-Nahda Square.
He was arrested in the vicinity of Siwa town, in Egypt’s western desert, near the borders with Libya, on Wednesday.
On Saturday, prosecutors also released fresh orders to detain Hegazy for fifteen days pending investigations.
Sources from the prosecution told Ahram Online that prosecutors have questioned Hegazy for inciting violence for comments he made last December.
His statements were widely interpreted as a call on Morsi supporters to confront demonstrating opponents in December 2012 in front of the presidential palace in Cairo. At least ten were killed on 5 December 2012 amid deadly clashes between pro and anti-Morsi groups.
Hegazy was also questioned for inciting Morsi supporters to march on the Republican Guards headquarters in Cairo–where the army allegedly detained Morsi–on 8 July. Over fifty Brotherhood supporters were killed and dozens injured when the armed forces stormed the protest.
Hegazy has been one of the prominent supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. He was reportedly present at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in, where he made highly controversial statements about the Brotherhood`s opponents.
Following the violent dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-ins on 14 August, security forces have carried out mass arrests of members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. The government has repeatedly accused Islamists of committing "terrorist acts" against their opponents.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online]
Egypt Prosecutors Extend Detention of Prominent Islamists
Prosecutors extend detention of Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, Helmy El-Gazzar, Mohamed Omda and other senior Islamist figures on charges of inciting violence.
The detention of Salafist figure Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, leading Muslim Brotherhood member Helmy El-Gazzar, former MP Mohamed Omda, Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud and Wasat Party head Abu El-Ela Madi has been extended for another fifteen days by prosecutors in Giza.
The detained face charges of inciting violence.
Security forces have embarked on a wave of arrests targeting Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members, as well as other Islamist political figures, since the crackdown on 14 August against sit-ins demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online]
Beltagy’s Son Arrested in Beni Suef
Ammar al-Beltagy, son of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagy, was arrested Sunday in Beni Suef with three other sons of the group’s leaders, state-run Al-Ahram reported.
A source from the Ministry of Interior said that security forces arrested Beltagy, Tarek Mostafa Abdel Aziz, Jalal Younis, and Mohamed Hussein Abdel Azim in the latter’s house.
The source said the second detainee is the grandson of the Brotherhood`s Beni Suef secretary, and that the third detainee`s father is the owner of one of the biggest supermarkets in Beni Suef and a financier for the group`s activities in the governorate.
He added that Essam Ibrahim, a doctor who belongs to the Brotherhood, was also arrested.
The source said that all the suspects were arrested upon the orders of the general prosecution and that all legal measures were taken once they were brought in.
Many Brotherhood leaders and sympathizers have been arrested since President Mohamed Morsi`s ouster on 3 July and the forcible dispersal of the two sit-ins supporting him on 14 August. In an interview on 20 August, the head of General Authority of Cairo Investigations said the authority had all but confirmed information on the location of most leaders of the group, who fled during the dispersal of the sit-ins.
Mohamed al-Beltagy`s seventeen-year-old daughter Asmaa was killed during the dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Nour Party Denies Reports it Will Participate in Amending Constitution
Abdallah Badran, a member of the Salafi-led Nour Party’s supreme council, denied reports that his party will participate in the fifty-people committee tasked with amending the constitution, MENA reported.
Badran said that discussions are still underway and that the party has not yet decided on its stance on the process.
Earlier on Sunday, state-run Al-Ahram reported that the Nour Party would be pushing for the inclusion of five of its members in the fifty-person committee tasked with amending the constitution, officially announcing its participation in the process.
Badran reiterated that the party is adamant on keeping articles 2 and 219, which explains the principles of Sharia, as is.
Badran had reportedly told Al-Ahram that although the party has reservations, it has decided to participate in the process, hoping that the sessions in which the committee drafts the amendments are public.
The party is expected to issue a statement detailing its stance towards participating in the process, as well as naming its nominees for the committee.
A ten-person committee is scheduled to submit its final amendments to the draft constitution to interim President Adly Mansour on Sunday, after which the document will be referred to the fifty-person committee, as per Article 29 of the Constitutional Declaration issued by Adly last month.
The broader committee of fifty people is expected to represent the diversity of society, including the various political parties, workers and farmers, syndicate members, national councils, and representatives from Al-Azhar, the Church, the Armed Forces, and the police.
This committee will approve the amendments within two months, then present them to the president, who will in turn put them up for referendum within a maximum of thirty days.
Some observers have criticized the constitutional stipulation that concerns the two committees, saying that amendments should go through a larger group of political representatives first and be fine-tuned later by judicial figures, rather than the other way around.
If all goes according to schedule, Egypt is slated to hit the polls to ratify a new constitution in November.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Ten-Person Committee Finalizes Draft Constitution
The committee of ten legal experts mandated to amend Egypt’s 2012 Constitution has finished its work, making way for the formation of a fifty-person committee that will produce a final revision of the document ahead of a referendum held within the next three months, state-run Al-Ahram reported.
The amendments point to an intention to reverse several articles that were slammed for reflecting the interests of the Islamist elites who drafted them last year.
The most prominent amendments include one to Article 4, which pertains to Al-Azhar. The amendment removes the stipulation that the Al-Azhar Council of Senior Scholars be consulted about the constitutionality of laws.
The amended article also stipulates that the Al-Azhar grand sheikh cannot be removed, and must be selected from its Council of Senior Scholars.
The committee also added a clause to Article 43, stipulating that for a home to be searched by security forces, a court order must determine the time, place, and reason for the raid.
A phrase that many said opened the door to child labor was also removed from Article 60, replaced with a stipulation that forbids the employment of children before they reach school-leaving age.
The number of seats in parliament was increased from 350 to 450 seats, as per a change in Article 77, due to the dissolution of the Shura Council.
Article 116 was amended to stipulate that the president’s parents must not hold any other citizenships apart from Egyptian, a rule that applies to the president as well.
Article 134 was also amended to hold the president accountable if he or she violates the constitution.
Article 171 was amended to stipulate that the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces must be given for the appointment of the defense minister.
This committee of fifty experts is set to approve the amendments in two months, after which it will present them to the president, who will in turn put them up for referendum within a maximum of thirty days.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Salafist Nour Party Agrees to Join Egypt Constitutional Committee
Egypt`s largest Salafist group says it will join the constitutional review committee in order to defend Islamic `identity` articles.
Egypt’s Salafist Nour Party has decided to participate in the fifty-member committee tasked with proposing amendments to the country`s temporarily suspended 2012 constitution, state news agency MENA reported.
The decision follows previous statements by Nour spokesmen stating that the party will not take part in the constitutional committee following the removal of article 219 by a technical committee, which amended the constitution before passing it on to the ‘fifty committee’.
Article 219 defined Sharia (Islamic law), which is mentioned in Article 2 as the main source of legislation in Egypt. The article was added by the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly in 2012 under the former President Mohamed Morsi. It states that, "the principles of Islamic Sharia include its commonly-accepted interpretations, its fundamental and jurisprudent rules and its widely considered sources, as stated by the schools of Sunna and Gamaa."
The Nour party has previously warned that eliminating this article translates as an attempt to move Egyptians away from their “Islamic identity.”
The group’s decision to join the committee, which is to have the final word on amendments before the constitution is subjected to a plebiscite, was partly taken in order to promote keeping article 219 in the constitution.
One of the aims of participating in the committee is “to defend the articles of identity which constitute a true representation of the Egyptian people’s identity, rather than that of a particular political current,” a statement issued by Nour on Sunday said.
Nour Party is uneasy about the amending of the constitution by two appointed committees–the first of which has completed its work and is comprised of legal experts, and the second, which is made up of representatives from Egyptian society and institutions–despite its agreeing to a transitional roadmap, which was instated after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and included constitutional amendments.
Salafist figures from Nour Party were members of the controversial Constituent Assembly, which drafted the 2012 constitution and was passed via referendum.
Nour Party said in its statement that it has reservations about amending a popularly-elected charter and feels that it exceeds a technical committee’s work to make amendments to the formulations of constitutional articles, thus interfering in the content of them.
Concern over this interference, the party said, is not exclusive to Islamist political parties. Other groups, it said, are also disturbed by indications of a constitution that would take Egypt back to before the January 25 revolution, referring to a return to the single candidacy system of the Mubarak-era, which has been proposed by the technical committee.
Nour Party, the second largest Islamist party in Egypt, was the only Islamist group openly condoning the deposition of Morsi after mass protests against him.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the party that nominated Morsi to the presidency, has rejected all steps taken after his overthrow to initiate dialogue, and insists he be reinstated.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Egypt Prosecution Orders Release of Son of Brotherhood Leader El-Beltagy
Beni Suef prosecution releases Ammar El-Beltagy hours after arrest; His father, senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy, is still at large.
Beni Suef prosecution has decided to release the son of Muslim Brotherhood senior leader Mohamed El-Beltagy on Sunday, several hours after his arrest, as no charges have been brought against him.
Ammar, twenty-years-old, was arrested on Sunday as part of a large-scale crackdown on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group.
Along with three other sons of Brotherhood leaders, Ammar El-Beltagy was rounded up in Beni Suef Governorate, south of Cairo, according to security sources. His father, who was issued an arrest warrant for allegations including terrorizing people, torture and murder, is still in hiding, as is fellow leading Brotherhood member Essam El-Erian.
Mohamed El-Beltagy`s seventeen-year-old daughter Asmaa was killed in a bloody police raid on a pro-Morsi protest camp in east Cairo on 14 August, which left hundreds dead and sparked days of violent clashes, pitting Islamists against security forces.
Beni Suef prosecution decided to detain four other members of the Muslim Brotherhood for four days, pending investigation, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic site.
The eighty-five-year-old Muslim Brotherhood movement-which operated in the shadows until the deposition of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011-has been reeling from a widespread clampdown on its senior leaders and supporters, following the ouster of Brotherhood-affiliated former President Mohamed Morsi last month.
Mohamed Badie, the group`s main authority and spiritual leader, was arrested last week. This is the first time in three decades that the group`s supreme guide has been arrested.
Badie, along with his two deputies, Khairat El-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi, are due to stand trial on 29 October after the first hearing was adjourned on Sunday because the defendants could not attend for security reasons.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]