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Morsi To Be Tried For Inciting Violence


In this Friday, July 13, 2012 file photo, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi holds a joint news conference with Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, unseen, at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

By SARAH EL DEEB
09/01/13 07:24 PM ET EDT

CAIRO — Egypt's top prosecutor on Sunday referred ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to trial on charges of inciting the killing of opponents protesting outside his palace while he was in office, the state news agency said.

The military ousted Morsi on July 3 after millions took to the streets demanding that he step down. He's been held incommunicado since. Despite other accusations by prosecutors, the decision Sunday is Morsi's first referral to trial. No date was announced for the trial.

Morsi will be tried in a criminal court for allegedly inciting his supporters to kill at least 10 people, use violence and unlawfully detain and torture protesters. Fourteen other members of the Muslim Brotherhood will be tried with Morsi, including top aides and leading members of his political party.

The case dates back to one of the deadliest bouts of violence during Morsi's one year in office. At least 100,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential palace on Dec. 4, protesting a decree Morsi issued to protect his decisions from judicial oversight and a highly disputed draft constitution that was hurriedly adopted by the Islamist-dominated parliament.

Protesters demanded that Morsi call off a referendum scheduled days later. The next day, Islamist groups and supporters of Morsi attacked protesters who had camped outside the presidential palace, sparking deadly street battles that left at least 10 dead and sent chills among Morsi's opponents that he had relied on organized mobs to suppress the sit-in.

The state news agency said an investigation by prosecutors revealed that Morsi had asked the Republican Guard and the minister in charge of police to break up the sit-in, but they feared a bloody confrontation and declined. The agency said Morsi's aides then summoned their supporters to forcefully break up the sit-in.

At least one journalist was killed in these clashes and 54 civilians were held and tortured by Morsi supporters outside the palace, before they handed them over to the police.

Officials from the Brotherhood and its political party denied using violence to quell critics and said supporters were defending the palace. They accused opponents of starting the battles and forcing away police that had been guarding the area.

Those referred to trial with Morsi include the deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political party, Essam el-Erian, who is currently in hiding. They also include leading Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagy, who was arrested this week, as well as leading pro-Brotherhood youth leaders who were video-taped during the street clashes on the front lines.

Since Morsi's ouster, authorities have waged an intensive security crackdown on members of the Brotherhood. The crackdown followed the violent breakup of weeks-long sit-ins held in Cairo by Morsi supporters demanding his reinstatement that left hundreds dead.

The Islamist-drafted constitution was one of the most divisive issues during Morsi's time in office. It was suspended after the military ousted Morsi.

Meanwhile, in a sign that the interim authorities are forging ahead with their transition plan, Egypt's interim president appointed a 50-member committee Sunday dominated by liberal and secular public figures and politicians to review proposed amendments to the disputed Islamist-drafted constitution.

The committee is to begin discussions Sept. 8 on the changes proposed by a 10-member panel of judges, also appointed by interim President Adly Mansour. It is then expected to put the amended charter to a public vote within 60 days, presidential spokesman Ihab Badawi said.

A military-backed transition plan calls for parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.

The new review committee includes five women well as four representatives from the youth groups that led the protests against Morsi and his predecessor, longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. There are also three Christian clerics, but no private citizens who are Christians.

There are three representatives of Al-Azhar, the Sunni world's most prestigious learning institute that represents moderate Islam. There are also representatives from professional unions, universities and the arts.

Badawi said the Muslim Brotherhood's political party and five other Islamist parties were invited to nominate candidates, but only the ultraconservative Salafi al-Nour party agreed to participate.

Lawmakers elected the Islamist-dominated 100-member committee that drafted the constitution under Morsi. It included 60 people affiliated with Islamist groups, six women and six Christians.

In drafting the constitution under Morsi, liberals twice walked out of the committee, complaining that the Brotherhood and its allies were dominating the process and stifling their suggestions. They said the charter undermined freedoms and rights and sought to imbue a strict interpretation of Islam into Egypt's laws.

It is not yet clear how the new committee will vote on the amendments, an issue which could complicate and prolong discussions. The amendments suggested by the judges remove controversial articles from the constitution approved when Morsi was in power that give Muslim clerics a final say over legislation and allow room for stricter interpretation and implementation of Islamic laws.

Sherif Taha, a spokesman for the Salafi al-Nour party, criticized what he called the "marginalization" of the Islamists' role in the new review committee. His party has said it would argue in the committee to restore articles removed by the judges that stress the Islamic nature of the state and outlaw insulting religious figures and violating social mores.

Badawi said a former member of the Brotherhood, Kamal el-Helbawi, also has agreed to sit on the committee and "will take into consideration the interests" of the group.

© 2013 Associated Press

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/01/morsi-tried-inciting-violence_n_3853503.html [with comments]


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Egypt names key constitution panel with few Islamists

By Tom Perry and Shaimaa Fayed
CAIRO | Sun Sep 1, 2013 2:31pm EDT

(Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed government unveiled a constituent assembly on Sunday almost devoid of Islamists, and gave it 60 days to review amendments that would erase Islamic articles brought in by the Muslim Brotherhood and more hardline Islamic parties.

The constitutional review is part of a road map unveiled by the administration that took power after the army deposed President Mohamed Mursi on July 3.

Egypt will hold parliamentary and presidential elections only once the constitution is approved in a referendum.

Reflecting a power shift as the government cracks down on the Brotherhood, accusing it of terrorism, the changes proposed in a first draft of the constitution may open the way for a comeback by some members of the old order associated with Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular revolt in 2011.

The proposed amendments would remove Islamic articles - hotly disputed by secularists - that include one that gave Muslim scholars a say over some affairs of state, and also lift a ban on some Mubarak-era officials assuming public office.

Drawn up by a 10-member "committee of experts" appointed by decree, the draft preserves the privileged status of the military, which it effectively shields from civilian oversight.

Although Islamists won five popular votes held since 2011, the constituent assembly will have only two Islamists among its 50 members. One belongs to the hardline Salafi Nour party, the other is a former Brotherhood leader now harshly critical of the group he left last year.

PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT ABSENT

While the assembly includes the founders of the Tamarud petition campaign that galvanized support for protests that led to Mursi's downfall, there is no obvious place for the pro-democracy youth movements that ignited the 2011 revolt against Mubarak.

There are also places for Muslim scholars, representatives of the church, the arts, unions, members of secular parties and prominent figures such former Arab League chief Amr Moussa and renowned heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub.

"It's a very establishment list," said Nathan Brown, an expert on Egypt based at George Washington University in the United States, adding: "The procedure does seem to tilt in favor of accepting what the experts have drafted."

The presidency said six Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, had been approached to fill the two seats set aside for Islamists. Only Nour had responded.

The Brotherhood says it wants nothing to do with the army's plans for Egypt, decrying Mursi's removal as a coup against a democratically elected head of state.

At least 900 people, most of them Mursi supporters, have been killed since he was toppled.

The Brotherhood and the Nour Party secured a major say over the last constitution-drafting process by winning some 70 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections held after Mubarak's downfall.

Critics said the Islamists then sidelined other groups in a process that failed to reflect Egypt's diversity. The constitution was signed into law last December by Mursi after being approved in a referendum.

The panel will meet for the first time on September 8.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Jon Boyle)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/01/us-egypt-protests-constitution-idUSBRE9800C620130901 [with comment]


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