Commitee gets green light to draft brand new constitution

Interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree this week allowing the constitutional committee to draft a completely new constitution, as opposed to amending the 2012 Constitution ratified under former President Mohamed Morsi.

As the 50-member committee continues to debate and draft new articles, several groups have lobbying to have their interests represented in the new draft. 

The No to Military Trials campaign recently addressed the committee in the midst of increasingly heated debate regarding the military trial of civilians. The activist group demanded that the committee draft an article that would completely ban military trials for civilians under any and all circumstances. 

In a press conference following the meeting, No to Military Trial members said the meeting was "fruitful," and they managed to sway several members of the committee.

Some committee members had proposed a ban on military trials with the exception of civilians accused of attacking army facilities. However, activists say these types of exceptions are often misused as a pretext to refer other civilians to military tribunals. 

However, Mohamed Abdel Aziz — the representative of the grassroots Tamarod (Rebel) campaign in the committee of 50 — condemned the activists’ proposal, declaring military trial of civilians was an important measure in the midst of what he called the country’s ongoing “war on terrorism.”

"The civilian judicial system will take too long to investigate crimes related to attacking military units," Aziz argued, the privately owned daily Al-Shorouk reported on Thursday.

Aziz believes the article in question should be amended in a way that would not conflict with the demands of the revolution, but still safeguard the "reputation of the army" at the same time.

On Wednesday, the constitutional committee proposed new articles related to women’s rights. One article would stipulate the state's commitment to protecting women's political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, as defined in the constitution.

The article would also aim to help women achieve a better balance between “her duties at home and at work,” and also protecting women from violence. 

The article would guarantee a minimum level of representation for women in parliament, provide certain rights for working women, single mothers, and poor women, and also address the rights of children.

This represents a notable shift away from the 2012 Constitution drafted by a dominantly Islamist Constituent Assembly, in which the article related to women’s rights was restricted to the limitations of Sharia.

However, a contentious article related to the state's commitment to preserve the values of the Egyptian family — which had been amended in the 2012 Constitution — is still in place in the new draft.

Critics fear that this an article could open the door to new threats on personal and civil freedoms under the pretext of preserving the traditions of the Egyptian family.

The state-owned news site Egynews reported on Thursday that the committee is still arguing on articles related to the identity of the state and the implementation of Sharia. The sub-committee working on those articles has referred those first four articles of the constitution to the general assembly due to a lack of consensus.

The articles are related to the civil nature of the state, the issue of resorting of non-Muslims to their religious jurisdictions, the explanation of the principles of Sharia and Al-Azhar’s role in implementing Sharia.

As for the articles on media, the assembly is planning to add three new articles that would establish three different authorities to organize the local press.

The first article is related to establishing a Supreme Council of Media, which would be tasked with protecting freedom of speech and granting media independence.

The second article would establish a national body to regulate state-owned newspapers, replacing the Supreme Journalism Council, and a third would form a body to organize state-owned and private television channels, eventually replacing the Ministry of Information and Egyptian Radio and Television Union.

However, all of these initiatives might come to a grinding halt if the assembly can’t come to an agreement on hotly contentious articles regarding the army’s privileges, Al-Shorouk reported on Thursday.

Sources from the liberal National Salvation Front coalition told Al-Shorouk that the group would withdraw its representatives from the committee if the new constitutional draft would continue to safeguard the privileges granted to the Armed Forces by the previous constitution.

Egyptian Social Democratic Party head Mohamed Abu al-Ghar threatened to withdraw from the party if these articles weren’t amended, as did Wafd Party head Sayed al-Badawi, the sources claimed.

On Wednesday, Sameh Ashour  — head of the sub-committee on suggestions and social dialogue — suggested establishing a committee to work on problems in Sinai. The committee would be responsible for planning development projects for the impoverished region, and would have the power to execute economic plans, he suggested.

The human rights committee also proposed amending the article governing the rights of prisoners. The new article would stipulate that detainees would have the right to be treated with dignity  under all circumstances, would ban torture and would guarantee detention centers would meet certain standards of hygiene and living conditions. The article would also put prisons and police detention centers under judicial supervision.

Finally, it appears the committee will soon decide on the fate of the Shura Council. Sources indicate the parliamentary body will most likely be preserved as is, though several critics have demanded the body be dissolved altogether in favor of one sole parliament, said committee member Amr al-Shoubaky.