Egypt's rushed constitutional amendments cause outrage

By Marwa al-A'sar Mar 20, 2007, 17:53 GMT

Cairo - Moves for the first major change to Egypt's constitution since 1971 have caused a stir with the country's opposition politicians accusing the government of President Hosni Mubarak of taking a step backwards on the road to reform.

Opposition and independent members of parliament say the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) gave the opposition no space for reacting and mobilizing the public by approving a series of constitutional amendments on Monday despite their boycott of proceedings.

The amendments pertain to, among other things, the country's electoral process, the formation of new political parties, police powers and how Egypt will handle terror suspects and monitor private communications.

A public referendum that had been planned for April 4 was rescheduled for March 26, causing further outrage.

'Amendments were discussed in two days only instead of three as NDP MPs from all governorates were kept in Cairo to attend the voting session,' said Ibrahim Zakaria, an MP for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement, Egypt's largest opposition group.

The amendments - promoted as reforms but termed by the opposition as an erosion of liberties - were passed late Monday as 315 MPs - mainly from the NDP - out of 454 voted in favour.

'I bet that most of the NDP MPs who voted for the amendments saying 'Long live Mubarak' didn't read the report they signed,' said Mohamed al-Beltagi, also an MP for the MB.

On Sunday, several dozen lawmakers left a session of parliament in protest at the planned amendments. International human rights watchdog Amnesty International has also rejected the proposed amendments.

The protest, led by the MB movement, which occupies 88 seats in parliament and represents the strongest block after the NDP, was joined by some independent and opposition party MPs who fear the changes could lead to the strengthening of the country's executive.

Mubarak in December asked the legislature to amend 34 articles of the constitution as part of a political reform package - the first major change in the constitution since 1971.

The opposition described the amendments as a step backward on the road to reform.

The MB and various other opposition MPs have signalled their rejection of a proposed article that will result in the cancellation of judicial monitoring of the voting process in elections.

Instead, responsibility for this task would be given to a committee on which judges may not necessarily be in the majority.

The opposition have also indicated their disapproval of a constitutional amendment regarding conditions for nominating presidential candidates and a third banning the formation of political parties based on religious denomination.

Restrictions on the formations of political parties on this basis is seen as being aimed at preventing the MB from emerging as a political party.

Amendments will also prevent independent candidates from standing for the presidency and ban all political activity based on religious convictions.

Amnesty International has called on Egyptian MPs to reject the proposed amendments, which the organization called 'the most serious undermining of human rights safeguards in Egypt since the state of emergency was re-imposed in 1981.'

According to a statement released by the watchdog organisation, 'the amendments to Article number 179 would give sweeping powers of arrest to the police, grant broad authority to monitor private communications and allow the Egyptian president to bypass ordinary courts and refer people suspected of terrorism to military and special courts, in which they would be unlikely to receive fair trials.'

'Instead of putting an end to the secret detentions, enforced 'disappearances', torture and unfair trials before emergency and military courts, Egyptian MPs are now being asked to sign away even the constitutional protections against such human rights violations,' said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa programme deputy director for Amnesty International.