Egypt's People Assembly approves constitutional amendments
Egypt, Politics, 3/20/2007

Egypt's People's Assembly approved during a session yesterday under Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour the remaining number of the constitutional amendments proposed by President Hosni Mubarak.

The People's Assembly has approved over three sessions on Sunday the amendments of 13 constitutional articles.

These articles include Article 76 stipulating the right of political parties that have been actively involved in the political life for 15 running years to submit a presidential candidate.

The article prevents political parties with less than three percent representation in the Egyptian parliament from running in presidential elections.

They turned down a proposal by opposition Wafdist member Mahmoud Abaza that a presidential candidate should get the approval of 150,000 citizens from ten governorates.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program said on Sunday "The proposed constitutional amendments would simply entrench the long-standing system of abuse under Egypt's state of emergency powers and give the misuse of those powers a bogus legitimacy. Instead of putting an end to the secret detentions, enforced 'disappearances', torture and unfair trials before emergency and military courts, Egyptian MPs are now being asked to sign away even the constitutional protections against such human rights violations."

Ading "The amendment of Article 179 would pave the way for the introduction of a new anti-terrorism law that would undermine the principle of individual freedom (Article 41(1)), privacy of the home (Article 44) and privacy of correspondence, telephone calls and other communication (Article 45(2)). The amendments would also grant the president the right to interfere in the judiciary by bypassing ordinary courts, including by referring people suspected of terrorism-related offenses to military courts."

Speaker of the People's Assembly Ahmed Fathi Sorour said 315 MPs voted in favor of the constitutional amendments.

He said that the parliamentary approval would now be submitted to the President.

Previous Stories:
  Egyptian Journalists fined, spared prison, for insulting the president   (3/6/2007)
  Concern Egypt new anti-terror law may infringe on rights   (2/21/2007)
  Al-Jazeera producer charged with harming national interest   (2/4/2007)
  Mubarak: Constitutional amendments are designed for the future   (1/20/2007)

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