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Egypt's Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers - Yahoo! News

Egypt's Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers
By HAMZA HENDAWI | Associated Press – 26 mins ago

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president on Thursday issued constitutional amendments that placed him above judicial oversight and ordered the retrial of Hosni Mubarak for the killing of protesters in last year's uprising.

Mohammed Morsi also decreed immunity for the Islamist-dominated panel drafting a new constitution from any possible court decisions to dissolve it, a threat that had been hanging over the controversial assembly.

Liberal and Christian members withdrew from the assembly during the past week to protest what they say is the hijacking of the process by Morsi's allies, who they saw are trying to push through a document that will have an Islamist slant marginalizing women and minority Christians and infringing on personal liberties. Several courts have been looking into cases demanding the dissolution of the panel.

The Egyptian leader also decreed that all decisions he has made since taking office in June and until a new constitution is adopted and a new parliament is elected — which is not expected before next spring — are not subject to appeal in court or by any other authority. He also barred any court from dissolving the Islamist-led upper house of parliament, a largely toothless body that has also faced court cases.

The moves effectively remove any oversight on Morsi, the longtime Muslim Brotherhood figure who became Egypt's first freely elected president last summer after the Feb. 11, 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. They come as Morsi is riding high on lavish praise from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for mediating an end to eight days of fighting between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Morsi not only holds executive power, he also has legislative authority after a previous court ruling just before he took office on June 30 dissolved the powerful lower house of parliament, which was led by the Brotherhood. With two branches of power in his hands, Morsi has had repeated frictions with the third, the judiciary, over recent months.

"Morsi today usurped all state powers & appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh," pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account. "A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences."

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Morsy defends new powers amid clashes...

Top Egyptian judicial body rips Morsy
Sat November 24, 2012 - 128 police officers have been injured in clashes since Thursday, a spokesman says; A judges' group calls for a nationwide strike; another group opposes it; Council calls move an "unprecedented attack" on judicial independence; President Morsy says his actions are aimed at fostering "political and social stability"

Egypt's highest judicial body joined protesters Saturday in lambasting the country's president for issuing a decree disabling the courts and giving him unchecked power. President Mohamed Morsy on Thursday announced that courts could not overturn any decree or law he has issued since taking office in June and, beyond that, in the six months until a new constitution is finalized, his spokesman said on state-run TV. He also fired Egypt's prosecutor general, who has been criticized for the insufficient prosecutions of those suspected in demonstrators' deaths in 2011.

The Supreme Judicial Council, the highest judicial body in Egypt, weighed in Saturday, calling the decree an "unprecedented attack on the independence of the judicial branch," state-run media reported. "The Supreme Judicial Council, which is in charge of all matters related to the judiciary and the judges, expresses its dismay at the issuance of such a decree and is calling on the president of the republic to distance himself from all matters related to the judicial branch and its agencies," state news agency MENA said. The president's decree sparked demonstrations in Egypt and widespread anger in the country at Morsy, who had been widely praised across the world for spearheading a cease-fire agreement in Gaza after eight days of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

According to state-run EGYNews, which cited the Health Ministry, 261 people have been injured in clashes in Cairo and elsewhere since Morsy made his announcement. Forty-three of those reportedly remain in hospitals. The report did not indicate whether those injured were Morsy supporters or opponents. Interior Ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud said 128 police officers were injured in clashes nationwide. Dozens of protesters, some throwing rocks, faced off in central Cairo on Saturday morning with police, who fired tear gas canisters at them. The gas drifted through streets near a more thinly populated Tahrir Square, where just a day before thousands of protesters called for the overthrow of the regime.

Egyptian state TV reported clashes outside the judicial building in Cairo between opponents and supporters of the government. Clashes continued into the evening between protesters and security forces, with police firing tear gas and warning shots in the air near the Interior Minsitry. Ministry spokesman Mahmoud said hundreds of Morsy supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to storm the building, but riot police stopped them. The protesters congregated at the entrance of the judicial building. That's where the leadership of the Egypt Judges Club, an association of judges from across the country, was meeting with former Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud. The judges and Mahmoud vehemently oppose Morsy's actions.

More Top Egyptian judicial body rips Morsy - CNN.com

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Egypt's ElBaradei demands Morsi rescinds 'dictatorial' decree
Saturday 24 Nov 2012 - After joining Sabbahi and others to form a new national front to defeat decrees, ElBaradei calls on president to back down

Prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday there could be no dialogue with Egypt's president until he rescinded a "dictatorial" decree that he said gave the Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi the powers of a pharaoh. The presidential decree issued on Thursday by Morsi, elected in June with the Muslim Brotherhood behind him, expanded his powers and caused fury amongst his opponents, prompting violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities on Friday.

Judges, angry at measures seen as undermining the judiciary, have threatened to strike if the declaration was not revoked and the opposition has called for more protests, with one planned for Tuesday. "There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," ElBaradei said in an interview with Reuters and The Associated Press after talks with opposition figures.

ElBaradei, who said he expected to be coordinator of a new opposition National Salvation Front, said Mursi's declaration threatened Egypt's troubled transition to democracy and actions were needed to stop a "cycle of violence". "How are we going to do that? I do not see any other way other than through Mr. Morsi rescinding his dictatorial declaration," he said, adding the decree created a "new pharaoh".

In his decree, Morsi put all his decisions beyond legal challenge as long as there is no parliament, sacked the unpopular general prosecutor and opened the door to retrials for the already jailed ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his aides. "I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the US, by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," ElBaradei said, speaking from his villa on the outskirts of Cairo.

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Granny says Obama gonna sit this one out too...

Egypt's Morsi hasn't heard from Obama since power grab
November 26, 2012 - OBAMA ON SIDELINE? After Morsi Power Grab, No Calls From Obama

President Obama, who praised Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, has not spoken to the Islamist since his alarming power grab, a White House spokesman said Monday. One day after Arizona Sen. John McCain appeared on the Fox News Channel and called on Obama to renounce the decree by Morsi putting himself above the law, White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated the State Department’s muted call for Egyptians to work out their “internal” problems. “We call for calm and for all parties to work together to resolve their differences peacefully,” Carney said. "We've raised concerns about it," Carney added later. "We are constantly monitoring developments in Egypt and working with the Egyptians, with whom we have a very close relationship."

But asked point blank if the White House "condemned" Morsi's move, Carney stopped short. "We are concerned about it and have raised those concerns," he said. Carney said Obama has not spoken with Morsi since the Islamist Egyptian president helped achieve a truce between Hamas and Israel, but said Obama’s recent praise of Morsi was limited to those efforts. “We see those as separate issues,” Carney said when asked if Obama felt “betrayed” that Morsi would move to consolidate his powers in the afterglow of praise for the effort in Israel. “The president’s interest was in working with the parties involved to bring about a cease-fire. “Our interest in the development and transition to democracy in Egypt is one that reflects what the people of Egypt demanded and continue to demand.”

Morsi last week declared himself and the two legislative bodies dominated by his Muslim Brotherhood to be above the reach of the nation’s judicial branch. The judiciary responded by calling the decrees an "assault" on the branch's independence. Judges and prosecutors stayed away from many courts in Cairo and other cities on Sunday and Monday. There were conflicting reports on Monday about whether Morsi had softened his stance in a meeting with members of the Supreme Judiciary Council. A television network allied with his party said Morsi had agreed that most of Morsi’s actions would be subject to review by the courts, but ensured that the constitutional council could not be dissolved by the courts before it finishes the document. But later, Reuters reported that a Morsi spokesman said his initial decree had not been amended in any way.

In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, tens of thousands of protesters camped out on Monday, demanding Morsi reverse his seizing of near-absolute powers. The protests could unravel the stability brought after political protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak and this summer put Morsi into power through a democratic election. McCain said on Sunday the U.S. should demand that Morsi abandon his new powers, and should use American leverage to ensure that he does. “First we must condemn it,” McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.” “Then we can outline what actions might be taken.” “This kind of power is not acceptable to the United States,” McCain said. “Renounce the statement and the move that (Morsi) just made.” McCain said the United States has leverage in trying to persuade Morsi to step back because it provides Egypt with billions in financial aid, in addition to forgiving its debt and supporting an International Monetary Fund deal.

Read more: Egypt's Morsi hasn't heard from Obama since power grab | Fox News

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Morsi seeks to defuse tensions
Tue, Nov 27, 2012 - POWDER KEG: The crisis talks come on the eve of rival demonstrations which threaten to deepen the country’s divisions and a day after man was killed in political clashes

Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was to meet with senior judges yesterday in a bid to defuse a crisis that erupted after he assumed sweeping new powers, sparking strikes and deadly protests. The crisis talks, on the eve of rival rallies which threaten to deepen the country’s divisions, come a day after a member of his party was killed in clashes in the Nile Delta. Ten people were also wounded in the clashes between supporters and opponents of the president, outside Muslim Brotherhood offices in Damanhour, a doctor at the hospital in the Nile Delta town told reporters.

Several offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party have been torched since Morsi’s announcement on Thursday of his enhanced powers. Morsi’s constitutional declaration, which allows him to issue decisions and laws unchallenged on a temporary basis, has triggered a wave of protests across the country, and set him on course for a showdown with Egypt’s judges. Courts in some provinces have suspended work in protest while the journalists’ union has decided in principle to go on strike and a sit-in by opponents of Morsi is being held in the iconic Tahrir Square, which was at the heart of last’s year revolution.

The constitutional declaration states that Morsi can issue “any decision or measure to protect the revolution,” which are final and not subject to appeal, sparking charges that he is taking on dictatorial powers. In a move to assuage his critics, Morsi was to meet the Supreme Judicial Council late in the afternoon after his Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki held preliminary talks with the council, the president’s spokesman Yasser Ali said. Ahead of the crisis talks, key opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei ruled out any compromise with “a president who is imposing a dictatorship,” but Mekki said that curbs on the widened presidential powers could be discussed with the judges.

An amendment could be added to specify that “the irrevocable decisions of the president apply only to issues related to his sovereign powers and not administrative decisions,” the minister said, quoted by state news agency MENA. On Sunday, Morsi stressed the “temporary nature” of the measures, valid only until a new constitution is adopted and elections held, and which “are not meant to concentrate power” but devolve it to a democratically elected parliament. The measures were also “deemed necessary in order to hold accountable those responsible for the corruption as well as the other crimes during the previous regime and during the transitional period,” he said.

More http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2012/11/27/2003548748

 

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Egypt's Courts Stage Strike Over Morsi Power Grab...

Egypt's highest appeal court suspends work to protest president's decrees, state TV says
Nov 28, 2012 - Egyptian court suspends work to protest Morsi move, As more than 100,000 protest in Cairo

Egypt's two highest appeals courts suspended their work Wednesday to protest presidential decrees that gave the country's Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi nearly absolute powers, state television reported. Judges of the Cassation Court decided in an emergency meeting that they will not return to work until Morsi rescinds his decrees, according to state TV. The country's lower appeals court also decided Wednesday to stop work nationwide. The move followed a defiant statement by the Supreme Constitutional Court that rejected charges made by Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood that it is working to bring down his government.

The developments are likely to stoke the political turmoil triggered by Morsi when he issued a constitutional declaration on Thursday that placed him above oversight of any kind, including by the courts, and extended similar protection to parliament's lower chamber and a 100-member panel drafting a new constitution. The constitutional court, which was not included in the suspension, is due to rule Sunday on the legality of the two bodies, which are dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. A ruling, regardless of which way it goes, would constitute a direct challenge to Morsi, who took office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president but has enraged pro-democracy activists who claim he is acting too much like the authoritarian leader he replaced.

The court ruled in June to dissolve parliament's lower chamber, also dominated by Islamists, a decision that Morsi and his Islamist allies described as part of a "conspiracy" to bring down the regime. A strike by the appeals courts and the rare criticism of the president contained in the Supreme Constitutional Court's statement come a day after at least 200,000 people gathered at Cairo's Tahrir square to protest Morsi's decrees, which also gave him unlimited powers to "protect" the nation.

The size of the protest was reminiscent of some of the larger rallies held in the square during the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime nearly two years ago. Clashes between some protesters and police continued Wednesday. The liberal opposition has said it would not enter a dialogue with the president about the country's latest political crisis before Morsi rescinded his decrees. They plan another massive rally on Friday.

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Egypt appeals courts launch anti-Mursi strike action
28 November 2012 - Judges in Egypt's appeal courts have called a strike in protest at President Mohammed Mursi's recent decree giving himself new powers.

The decree, issued last Thursday, gave Mr Mursi powers to take any measures to protect the revolution, and stated that no court could overturn his decisions. The move sparked widespread protests. Meanwhile, Egypt's new constitution will be completed on Wednesday, the head of the assembly drafting the document has said.

The constituent assembly is expected to vote on the draft on Thursday, officials say. "Tomorrow [Thursday] will be a great day," said the head of the Islamist-dominated assembly, Hossam al-Gheriani. He urged the non-Islamist parties, the syndicate of journalists and Egyptian churches - who walked out of the assembly last week - to return. Once adopted by the assembly, the proposed constitution will then be put to a national referendum.

'Protecting the revolution'

The Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups have called a rally for Saturday in support of Mr Mursi. His backers say the decree was needed to protect the gains of the revolution against a judiciary with deep ties to overthrown President Hosni Mubarak. Appeals courts and the Court of Cassation will halt work until the decree is revoked, the judges say. On Monday, Mr Mursi sought to defuse the crisis by saying the decree granting him new powers was limited in scope. He met senior judges and told them that the measure would be restricted to "sovereign matters" designed to protect institutions. But judges who attended the meeting said they were not satisfied. They want him to withdraw the measure completely.

Protesters who have taken to the streets since the decree was issued last Thursday say Mr Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood has hijacked the revolution. Anti-Mursi protests were held in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Minya and other Nile Delta cities on Tuesday. Low-level rallies continued in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday. The Brotherhood has organised counter-demonstrations. The decree bars judges from dissolving the assembly that is drawing up a new constitution. The president is also authorised to take any measures to preserve the revolution, national unity or safeguard national security. Critics say the decree is an attack on the judiciary.

More BBC News - Egypt appeals courts launch anti-Mursi strike action