Egypt Adds Islamic Influence to Constitution

By SAM DAGHER And MATT BRADLEY Enlarge Image Associated Press An Egyptian protester is treated for wounds sustained during clashes with security force in Tahrir Square in Cairo. CAIRO—Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist allies completed a new constitution with references to Shariah, or Islamic law, setting the stage for a new showdown with secularists, liberals and the country's judiciary. Drafters voted on the constitution's 234 articles, one by one, in a marathon session that started Thursday and lasted more than 16 hours until dawn Friday, with the head of the Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly racing to complete the document before a Supreme Court verdict on Sunday that could dissolve the assembly. In a controversial move, an additional article was added Friday at the last minute calling for a change in the makeup and membership of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the body challenging the assembly. The charter that took shape, Egyptian legal experts said, was almost identical to the 1971 constitution written by former President Anwar Sadat, which underpinned a presidential-led autocracy for four decades. But unlike Mr. Sadat's version, the new constitution incorporates mentions of Islamic law that could elevate the role of Islam in Egypt's public life and government. In one clause worrying for Egypt's liberals, the draft assigns the state with the responsibility to "ensure public morality," a clause that critics said is open to manipulation by Islamists. State TV broke away from a live broadcast of the proceedings to air an interview with Mr. Morsi, who said he would next put the constitution up for public approval through a national referendum scheduled for mid-December, even if the judiciary opposes it, because a decree he issued last week entitles him to do so. "I will stop those who want to turn back the clock no matter the cost," he said. Mr. Morsi cast the decree, which claimed more powers for the president and his Islamist allies, as a temporary fix to expedite a tumultuous democratic transition. Thousands of youth activists and members of secular and liberal parties camped this week in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, the focal point of the popular uprising that toppled the previous regime nearly two years ago, to demand that Mr. Morsi rescind the edict. Activists planned a mass protest on Friday in Tahrir to press their demands. A counterprotest on Saturday is set for another venue in Cairo, in what Islamists said was an attempt to avoid violence. At least four people have been killed and hundreds wounded in violence across the country over the past 10 days. If the Supreme Constitutional Court follows those protests on Sunday by declaring the constitutional assembly to be unconstitutional—as the court did with the Islamist-dominated parliament earlier this year—Islamists are likely to cast the decision as an attack on the president, escalating unrest. Mr. Morsi has said it was necessary to insulate the judiciary from the current political fight because it is stacked with judges appointed under the regime of his predecessor as president, Hosni Mubarak. The new constitution contains language that could further help Mr. Morsi bring the judges to heel. The vote Friday was a move by Mr. Morsi and the Constituent Assembly, which drafted the new constitution, to outflank the judiciary, said Nathan Brown, an expert on the Egyptian legal system and a professor of political science at George Washington University. "They're ripping the gavel out of their hands and pounding them over the head," he said. Enlarge Image Reuters Youths climb a wall Thursday that was built by police to prevent clashes between protesters and police at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Now the same Egyptian judges who have spent the past week in open revolt against Mr. Morsi and his Islamist allies could be put in charge of monitoring a national referendum on the constitution, and implementing it if it passes. More than one quarter of the original 100 members of the Constituent Assembly had either resigned or boycotted Thursday's session to protest what they said was bullying by the body's Islamist majority. Many of those who quit the Assembly also objected to several articles that could elevate the powers of the president, reshape of the judiciary and allow military tribunals to try civilians, among other issues. Secular, liberal and Christian groups had called for the dissolution of Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, and the Supreme Constitutional Court was scheduled to take up the matter within days. Critics accused Mr. Morsi of trying to force a hasty end to the constitution-drafting process amid deep polarization in the country. "The constitution won't survive because the legitimacy of the constitution has to be in our national consciousness first," Mohamed ElBaradei, a former presidential candidate who is now part of a new national front opposed to Mr. Morsi, told local TV channel al-Nahar. "It's a miserable constitution, I am sad especially because it's coming out in circumstances of total division in Egypt," he said. Members of the National Salvation Front formed last week by Mr. Baradei and several political figures and parties to oppose Mr. Morsi's decree came out Thursday to demand a complete overhaul of the constitution-drafting process, casting doubt over whether the final product could gain national acceptance. Mr. Morsi called the deep division provoked by his decree "very healthy and positive" in the interview broadcast on Thursday. "We aren't used to this and must be happy when we put it into practice: The opponent says his opinion and the supporter says his opinion and the decision maker [the president] bears his responsibility," he said. Meanwhile, Hossam El-Gheriany, the chairman of the Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution, pressed the panel to move through the voting held at the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament. "We really need this," said Mr. Gheriany, who at times used humor, cajoling, hectoring and banging on his desk to keep the chaotic proceedings on track. "God's hand is with the majority." The first order of business for Mr. Gheriany was to replace 11 of the 26 absent members to achieve a quorum of 85. He brushed off a member of the panel who warned him of the dangers of rushing the constitution through given the absence of those representing the church, secularists and other segments of the population. "The constitution must come out in a manner that makes the entire nation rally around it," said the objecting member, Mohammed Mohiye. Some critics complained that repeated references to Shariah law in the draft offered wide leeway of interpretation by judges and security forces. An attempt to define Shariah in Article 219 of the draft may raise more questions than answers, said critics. "The main concern for me and Copts at large is trying to smuggle Islamic Shariah into articles of the constitution," said Yusuf Sidhum, editor of Al Watan, a Coptic Christian newspaper. According to the draft, the military would still be allowed to try civilians before military courts—though many Islamists in the assembly had languished in jail for years following truncated military trials. In another potentially problematic clause added on Wednesday, the constitution limits the political role of former regime figures without articulating their exact identities. Attempts to qualify this clause provoked the most heated and prolonged exchanges toward the end of the assembly's meeting, with the chairman Mr. Gheriany suggesting it be dropped. Members insisted on it but made it applicable to "those who were officials in the former ruling party after the start of the Jan. 25 revolution in 2011." Source: WSJ