Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has issued constitutional amendments, granting himself far-reaching powers. Source: AP
EGYPT'S Islamist President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers yesterday, drawing criticism he was seeking to be a "new pharoah" and raising questions about the gains of last year's uprising to oust Hosni Mubarak.
The move is a blow to the pro-democracy movement that toppled the long-time president, himself derided by many as a pharoah, and raises concerns that Islamists will be further ensconced in power.
"The president can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution," according to a decree read out on television by presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.
"The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the president are final and not subject to appeal."
Nobel laureate and former UN atomic energy agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei lashed out at the declaration, which would effectively put the president above judicial oversight.
President Mursi has ordered the
retrial of officers accused of attacking protesters under Hosni Mubarak
Egypt's President Mohammed Mursi has
issued a declaration banning challenges to his decrees, laws and decisions.
The declaration also says no court can dissolve the constituent assembly,
which is drawing up a new constitution.
President Mursi also sacked the chief prosecutor and ordered the retrial of
people accused of attacking protesters when ex-President Mubarak held office.
Egyptian opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei accused Mr Mursi of acting like
a "new pharaoh".
The president may feel he has gained power through his role as international
mediator in the Gaza conflict, but his latest announcement is likely to cause
new struggles inside Egypt, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.
The constitution-drafting assembly faces fatal threats
The withdrawal of a third of the members from the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly throws the future of the constitution-writing body into question
Gamal Essam El-Din , Monday 19 Nov 2012
Months-old internal divisions and ideological disagreements among the 100-member Constituent Assembly – the body tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution – have reached a crescendo on Sunday as more than 30 non-Islamist members have decided to withdraw from the Assembly’s ranks, accusing representatives of Islamist forces of doing their best to draft a constitution aimed at turning Egypt into a radical Islamist state.
Egypt Salafists ordered off Coptic church land: report
An Egyptian Christian Copt touches the image of Jesus Christ during Sunday mass in Cairo, in September 2012.
Egypt's prosecutor general ruled on Thursday that the Christian Coptic church is the rightful owner of a disputed plot of land that Muslim extremists had occupied, a judicial source said.
AFP - Egypt's prosecutor general ruled on Thursday that the Christian Coptic church is the rightful owner of a disputed plot of land that Muslim extremists had occupied, a judicial source said.
Prosecutor Abdel Magid Mahmud also ordered that legal measures be taken to stop the radical Salafists from building a mosque on the land located north of Cairo.
Pope Tawadros II, Egypt's New Coptic Leader, Opposes Religious Constitution
By SARAH EL DEEB
CAIRO -- Egypt's new Coptic pope said Monday the constitution now being drafted will not be acceptable if it is overtly religious, a sign he would campaign with his Christian minority and secular groups against increasing Islam's role in the new charter.
In an interview aired Monday, a day after he was selected patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II said the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak last year has opened the way for a larger Coptic public role.
He said as pope, he will encourage the Christian community to participate more in political and public life, as well as elections. He charged that the country's Christian minority has been "intentionally" marginalized for years.
CAIRO — A blindfolded 6-year-old reached into a glass bowl on Sunday to pick the first new Coptic pope in more than 40 years, a patriarch who promises a new era of integration for Egypt’s Christian minority as it grapples with a wave of sectarian violence, new Islamist domination of politics, and internal pressures for reform.
WINCHESTER, Va. (AP) — A board member of Coptic Solidarity is dismissing President Barack Obama's statement of support for Egypt's minority Christians as just "empty words."
At Monday's presidential debate, Obama said his administration has put "significant pressure" on Egypt's newly elected Islamic government to "take responsibility for protecting religious minorities."
But Coptic Solidarity's Halim Meawad (MEE'-wahd) says the Obama administration actually appears to be drawing closer to an Egyptian government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and more radical Islamists.
Egyptian protesters chant slogans outside the State Council, background, following the High Administrative Court's session in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Tuesday asked the country's highest tribunal to rule on whether to disband the body tasked with writing a new constitution. The delay in a ruling is a possible blow to liberals, since it could give Islamists time to finish drafting the contested document.
Egypt school teacher fired for cutting girls' uncovered hair
An Egyptian school teacher was fired on Wednesday for cutting the hair of two 12-year-old girl pupils because they were not wearing Islamic headscarves, an act condemned as an illegal violation of human rights by a leading woman's organization.
Iman Abu Bakr Kilany, a science teacher who wears a full veil, said she had been dismissed from her school in the southern town of Luxor following complaints by relatives of the girls - the only two in her class who did not wear headcarves.
Thousands of Egyptian protesters marched Tuesday to mark one year since nearly 30 people were killed in a Coptic Christian demonstration that was violently crushed by security forces.
Demonstrators carrying posters of those who died during the violence walked solemnly down a main Cairo thoroughfare in the working class district of Shubra towards Maspero, in the city centre.
Some waved flags, others held posters of officials they want to see put on trial.
Groups of them chanted against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the military ruler who took charge of the country following the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and whose forces are accused of killing the protesters.
A special prayer service is held at Saint Mark’s cathedral to remember those killed in the Maspero massacre in 2011 and to ask for guidance in electing a new pope Basil El-Dabh
The Coptic Orthodox Church held a liturgy on Wednesday at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbaseya. The service commemorated the protesters who died almost a year ago on 9 October 2011 and marked the next phase of the selection of a new pope.
Banners with photos of the dead protesters were suspended over the entrance of the cathedral as grief-stricken family members, dressed in black, and other Christians filed in to take part in the liturgy attended by many high ranking church officials and headed by Metropolitan Pachomius of Beheira, the Church’s interim leader.
Amnesty Reports: Egyptians Still Terrorized by Police, Security Forces
Post-Mubarak police and security forces haven’t stopped using excessive, unnecessary, and often deadly force against Egyptian citizens. In two new reports on the abuse, Amnesty International demands that the new government deliver on promised reforms.
Last November, deadly clashes between Egyptian security forces and enraged protesters cycloned through sections of Cairo in what, to many, appeared to be a revolution unraveling at the seams. Dozens of demonstrators—mainly Coptic Christians—had been killed the previous month in a battle with police outside Egypt’s state television headquarters, and the public had grown sick of unfulfilled promises for police reforms.
Warning: Khalil Jamil blamed his behaviour on his restrictive background
A pharmacist who made crude remarks to three of his female colleagues has escaped with a warning after a panel heard he came from a 'restrictive Muslim background' and was unaware of the offence his conduct had caused.
Khalil Jamil asked one of the women about her favourite love-making position and quizzed another about the mating habits of her horses - but a professional panel ruled his behaviour was not sexually motivated.
Egypt prosecutors refer to trial radical Islamist who tore the Bible over anti-Islam film
CAIRO — Egyptian prosecutors referred to trial Tuesday a well-known radical Islamist who tore up an English copy of the Bible during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.
The case against Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah is a rare example of Egypt’s blasphemy laws — often condemned by rights groups as restrictive of freedom— used against someone who allegedly insulted a religion other than Islam.
Egypt has no business accusing Canadians of insulting Islam
Egypt appears to be trying to make the crime of “offending Islam” a worldwide one. Or perhaps it just wishes to offer a bone to the mob. Its prosecutor-general has put out an arrest warrant for two Canadians and several other Coptic Christians allegedly involved in the making of Innocence of Muslims, the anti-Prophet Mohammed film that has sparked deadly riots in some Muslim countries.
It may be primarily a symbolic gesture, but it does, in effect, put people on notice everywhere that taking issue with Islam is a dangerous thing to do. The prosecutor says the charges in the warrant (which also include causing sectarian violence and harming Egyptian independence) carry a possible death sentence.
Fears: Violence has taken place across the Muslim world, prompting cruise lines to cancel stops in popular Egypt and Tunisia
Major cruise lines are diverting their ships to avoid popular holiday destinations where there have been violent protests against the American amateur film The Innocence of Muslims.
Romney says United States should get tougher with Egypt
US potential presidential candidate warns Egypt risks losing the annual US aid if it fails to secure foreign diplomats
U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt needs to ensure the security of foreign diplomats or risk losing
the $1.3 billion in aid it receives each year from the United States,
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Friday.
After Islamist protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo this
week, Romney told a fundraising breakfast in New York the United States
should take a tougher line with Egypt.
Minister for groping: Egyptian politician in Paralympics delegation fondled woman...then tried to claim immunity
رئيس البعثة ابراهيم خليل مذنب بالإعتداء الجنسي على فتاه اثناء الدورة الاوليمبية بلندن
Embrahim Khalil, pictured leaving City of London Magistrates, sexually assaulted a tourist
An Egyptian sports minister tried to claim diplomatic immunity after being arrested for groping a tourist while in London with his country’s Paralympic delegation.
Ebrahim Ahmed Khalil, 56, fondled the 21-year-old’s breast as he showed her where to pin a flag badge hours before Sunday’s closing ceremony.
After he was arrested and accused of sexual assault, his embassy tried to claim diplomatic immunity. But the attempt failed and Khalil wept yesterday as he was fined by magistrates.
Egypt’s tourist guides protest security vacuum at country’s monuments
Nasser Nasser/Associated Press - Two Egyptian tour guides display their Union membership cards during a protest demanding higher pay in front of the Egyptian museum in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. Egypt’s tour guides are protesting lack of security at the country’s tourist attractions, such as the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor, or Cairo’s Islamic Medieval Citadel, leaving them and their foreign clients vulnerable to attacks from thugs and peddlers and hurting the already ailing tourism industry.
By Associated Press, AP
CAIRO — Egypt’s tour guides demonstrated Sunday, protesting that they are attacked by souvenir vendors and unlicensed competitors at famed sites like the Valley of the Kings tombs in Luxor or Cairo’s medieval citadel.
The turmoil reflects the crisis in Egypt’s vital tourism industry, which has suffered from the country’s internal unrest since the 2011 uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down.