CAIRO – An Egyptian panel was rushing through Thursday approval of a new constitution at the center of a political crisis pitting the Islamist president against his opposition, which has threatened new protests. The constituent assembly, which has been boycotted by liberals and Christians, had approved most of 234 articles, including a unanimous decision to retain Shariah as the main source of legislation. “We want a constitution we agree on,” said assembly chief Hossam Al-Gheriani, adding that the panel had been “awaiting” boycotting members even as it went to the vote. The opposition, which has mobilized unprecedented rallies since Morsi assumed broad powers last week, accuses the president and allies in the constituent assembly of railroading the charter through for a quick referendum. The charter will replace the one suspended after president Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in early 2011. Once it has been approved by the panel, it will be sent to Morsi, who must call a referendum on it. One of the president's advisors and panel member Essam Al-Erian said this might happen within two weeks. The opposition mostly disagreed with the rushed manner in which the assembly was operating and opposes some of of the draft charter's provisions on rights and freedoms. Christians objected to an article that seeks to narrow the meaning of “the principles of Islamic law” to the tenets of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence. Heba Morayef, Human Rights Watch Egypt directors, said some of the draft article provisions freedom of expression and religion resemble a “penal code.” “Some of the provisions are penal code provisions. You don't list all the things that you are not allowed to do, you're supposed to set up the rights and limitations,” she said. Particularly worrisome was the limitation of religious freedom to followers of Abrahamic religions, Morayef said. “They have added language that is problematic to freedom of expression, you cannot ‘insult a human', which is very broad. It can be used to censor criticism of the president,” she said. Morsi's decree, described by the opposition as dictatorial, stripped courts of the right to annul the controversial constituent assembly ahead of an expected court ruling Sunday. It shields Morsi's decisions from review by the judiciary, which Morsi and his movement believe retains Mubarak-era appointees who are inimical to Islamists. The top Cassation Court has suspended work to protest the decree, which will expire once the constitution is ratified. Morsi and his supporters argue that delaying the constitution, which would be followed by parliamentary elections to replace the Islamist-dominated house dissolved by a court earlier this year, would delay democratic transition. – Agencies
