Egyptian Islamists push through draft of charter

— Islamists rushed Thursday to approve a draft constitution for Egypt without the participation of liberal and Christian members, aiming to pre-empt a court ruling that could dissolve their panel and further inflame the clash between the opposition and President Mohammed Morsi.

The draft of the charter, meant to determine a new political identity for Egypt after 60 years of rule by authoritarian leaders, has an Islamist bent that rights experts say could lead to a say by Muslim clerics in legislation and restrictions on freedom of speech, women’s rights and other liberties.

The lack of inclusion was obvious in Thursday’s session of the assembly that has been writing the document for months. Of the 85 members in attendance, there was not a single Christian and only four women, all Islamists. Many of the men wore beards, the hallmark of Muslim conservatives. For weeks, liberal, secular and Christian members, already a minority on the 100-member panel, have been pulling out to protest what they call the Islamists’ hijacking of the process.

Voting had not been expected for another two months. But the assembly, overwhelmingly made up of Morsi’s allies, abruptly moved it up to pass the draft before Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court rules Sunday on whether to dissolve the panel.

Morsi is expected to call for a referendum on the draft as early as mid-December.

“I am saddened to see this come out while Egypt is so divided,” Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said, speaking on private Al-Nahar TV. But he predicted the document would not last long. “It will be part of political folklore and will go to the garbage bin of history.”

A new opposition bloc led by ElBaradei and other liberals said the assembly had lost its legitimacy.

“It is trying to impose a constitution monopolized by one trend and is the furthest from national consensus, produced in a farcical way,” the National Salvation Front said in a statement, read by Waheed Abdel-Meguid, one of the assembly members who withdrew.

Thursday’s vote also escalates an already bruising confrontation sparked last week when Morsi gave himself near absolute powers that neutralized the judiciary, the last branch of the state not in his hands.

The result has been one of Egypt’s worst bouts of turmoil since last year’s fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, pitting Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters against a mostly secular and liberal opposition and the powerful judiciary.

Street clashes occurred between the two camps the past week. At least 200,000 people protested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square earlier this week against Morsi’s decrees.

The opposition plans another large protest today, and the Brotherhood has called a similar rally for the next day, though they decided to move it from Tahrir Square to avoid frictions. Hundreds of opposition supporters have been camping out since last Friday in Tahrir Square and bands of youths have been daily battling police on a road leading off the square and close to the U.S. Embassy.

Morsi’s edicts aimed at preventing the judiciary from disbanding the constitutionwriting panel. He barred courts outright from doing so, then went further to bar judges from reviewing any of his own decisions. Confident the assembly was protected, he gave it until February to iron out the sharp differences over the draft.

But when the Constitutional Court defied his decree and said Wednesday that it would rule on the panel’s legitimacy, the date of the vote was immediately moved up.

Islamist members of the panel defended the fast-tracking. Hussein Ibrahim of the Muslim Brotherhood said the draft reflected thousands of hours of debate over the past six months, including input from liberals before they withdrew.

Over the past week, about 30 members have pulled out of the assembly. As Thursday’s session began, the assembly held a vote to formally remove 11 of those who withdrew and replace them with reserve members — who largely belong to the Islamist camp.

As the members voted on the draft article by article, each passed overwhelmingly. The draft largely reflects the conservative vision of the Islamists, with articles that rights activists, liberals and others fear will lead to restrictions on the rights of women and minority groups and on civil liberties in general.

One article that passed underlined that the state will protect “the true nature of the Egyptian family ... and promote its morals and values,” phrasing that suggests state control over the contents of such art forms as books and films. The draft also contains no article specifically establishing equality between men and women because of disputes over the phrasing.

Information for this article was contributed by Sarah El Deeb of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 11/30/2012

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