Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Cairo and other cities against a decree by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi that placed his decisions above judicial review.
Offices of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, headed by Mursi before his election, were torched in Alexandria and other cities, Al Jazeera said. Protesters filled Tahrir Square and clashes broke out near the Interior Ministry between activists and police for a fifth day. The Health Ministry reported 16 people hurt and the official Middle East News Agency reported eight policemen were seriously injured by Molotov cocktails.
Demonstrators chanted “the people want the regime down,” an echo of protests against Hosni Mubarak, and held banners that said “Mursi is the new Pharaoh” and “No to a new dictator.” Their demands include the dismissal of Mursi’s Cabinet, an overhaul of the police and the prosecution of officers responsible for killing and injuring protesters last year.
Mursi yesterday ordered the retrial of Mubarak-era officials, fired the prosecutor-general and blocked legal challenges to the assembly writing a new constitution, which secular and Christian groups have said is dominated by Islamists.
Mursi told a rally near the presidential palace that the aim of his actions was social and political stability, and said they were necessary to prevent Egypt’s transformation from being derailed by elements of the Mubarak regime. He acknowledged that not all the goals of the revolution have been achieved, a complaint made by youth activist groups.
International Praise
The exemption from judicial review means that any decrees issued by Mursi since taking office and preceding the adoption of a new constitution and the election of a new parliament aren’t open to appeal and can’t be reversed. Elections are slated to be held after the constitution is finished and approved in a referendum.
The government said in a statement that Mursi’s decrees don’t mean an expansion of presidential powers, and were intended to safeguard the temporary constitution until a new one can be written, MENA reported. The statement was published after premier Hisham Qandil held a meeting with key ministers.
Mursi’s actions “raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community,” according to U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Revolution’s Goal
“One of the aspirations of the revolution was to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution,” Nuland said in an e-mailed statement. “The current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law.”
“This was the fear from the very beginning,” said David Schenker, director of the Arab politics program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That you were going to be trading an autocrat for a theocrat. Everyone wanted to give Mursi and Muslim Brotherhood the benefit of the doubt and I think we’re seeing their true colors now.”
Mursi’s move came after he was hailed by President Barack Obama and other leaders for his role in negotiating a truce between Hamas and Israel. Mursi is also struggling to revive an economy battered by last year’s uprising, which caused tourists and investors to flee. Egypt’s benchmark stock index fell 3.9 percent this week, the biggest decline since June.
Social Unrest
Activist groups charge Mursi with failing to bring to justice those responsible for killing protesters last year. Twenty-five people were acquitted on charges related to the deaths last month.
By ordering retrials, Mursi is seeking “to rob the protesters of the card that there have been no punishments meted out,” Ashraf el-Sherif, adjunct lecturer in political science at the American University in Cairo, said by phone. He “wants the social unrest on the street to end.”
Mursi fired Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, who had served under Mubarak, after attempting to remove him last month. Talaat Ibrahim was appointed public prosecutor for four years, presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said yesterday.
The president decreed that no judicial body can disband the 100-member assembly writing the constitution, and extended its mandate by two months. Ayman Nour, an opposition politician, told Al Jazeera television he was leaving the committee after the announcement.
‘New Pharaoh’
The committee has faced legal challenges and has been criticized by secular groups that say it is forcing through articles that curtail freedoms and don’t represent the country’s religious minorities.
Mursi “usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh,” Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who played a key role in last year’s uprising, said on his Twitter account. “A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences.”
The United Nations human rights commission said it’s “very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration for human rights and the rule of law,” according to a statement from the office of the high commissioner, Navi Pillay.
Opposition leaders including ElBaradei, former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabahi issued a statement late yesterday calling for protests against the decrees.
Judicial Battle
The moves mark the latest push by the Islamist president to wrest power away from a judiciary that the Brotherhood has argued is biased against him. The group supports Mursi’s decisions and anyone who objects to them is “selling the blood of the martyrs,” Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency.
The judiciary criticized the move. “It’s frightening,” Judge Yussuf Auf said by phone. “This decree is a disaster on many levels because it undermines judicial principles that have been in place for decades. This will lead to an intense clash between the judiciary and the presidency unlike any we’ve seen in the past.”
--With assistance from Ahmed A. Namatalla in Cairo, Nadeem Hamid, Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid and Nicole Gaouette in Washington, Jennifer M. Freedman in Geneva and Robert Tuttle in Doha. Editors: Digby Lidstone, Ben Holland, Terry Atlas.