Constitution approval is divisive 
Egyptian draft constitution passes; protesters vow return to the streets
November 30, 2012 -- Updated 1312 GMT (2112 HKT)
Egyptian council approves constitution
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hundreds gather in Tahrir Square's tent city for Friday prayers
- The president could order a referendum on the constitution in about 2 weeks
- Assembly passes all 234 articles of a new draft constitution
- Article 65 guarantees all Egyptians social security
The draft will be printed
later in the day and presented to President Mohamed Morsy on Saturday,
said Houssam al-Ghiryani, who heads the assembly.
But that doesn't mean Egypt's crisis is over.
The constitution, which
would replace one scrapped in last year's revolution that led to Hosni
Mubarak's ouster, needs to be approved by citizens, many of whom are
angry at the government.
Hundreds of protesters
gathered Friday around noon at Tahrir Square, where they held prayers
after listening to a cleric brand Morsy a "pharaoh" over what many feel
was an overbearing power grab by the head of state last week.
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Since then, throngs have
taken to the streets to demonstrate against him and the constitutional
group led by Muslim Brotherhood members.
Protests have been large,
boisterous and occasionally violent, picking up steam after the
president issued an edict last week that included making his decisions
since taking office in June immune from judicial oversight.
The tent city pitched on a
roundabout has spread across the traffic circle. As has become
customary in recent weeks, food vendors set up stands in the middle of
the street. Protest leaders trod the boards of a sound stage, belting
out chants over microphones to the crowd.
The hasty nature of the call to approve the draft constitution added to Egyptian's discontent.
The snap vote prompted
several walkouts, reducing the number of the original 100 assembly
delegates. Those who resigned were replaced by members of the
Brotherhood and allied Salafist Nour Party. Eighty-five members approved
the draft.
The assembly was
dominated by Islamists. All of the Coptic Christian members officially
resigned as a bloc, and many of the others who departed were liberals.
The the rest of the
constitutional assembly members took the departing members into
consideration when discussing the various articles, said Essam El-Erian,
a senior presidential adviser.
Critics call the
maneuvering a case of the Muslim Brotherhood trying to hijack the
constitution less than two years after Mubarak's ouster. Others
interpret the vote as a way to quickly defuse anger about the
president's recent decree granting himself expanded presidential powers.
Morsy has appeared on
state TV to promise Egyptians that his decrees would apply only to
"sovereign" matters and go out of effect as soon as a new constitution
is ratified in a public referendum.
He justified targeting
the judiciary with an edict, accusing members of the judiciary of
working to thwart gains made in the Arab Spring uprising. The executive
and legislative branches of government have since been replenished, but
many of the same judges still sit on the courts' benches, including
Mubarak loyalists.
Some judges had threatened to disband the assembly writing the constitution.
The assembly convened
Thursday and continued through the night and well into Friday morning as
members voted on each article separately, discussed objections by
dissenters and made alterations.
At the end of 21 hours,
the assembly's head, Hossam al-Ghiriyani, asked the members if they
agreed to the 234 articles. After a show of hands, he said: "Agreement
by consensus. May God bless you." The room broke into applause, and
everyone stood for the playing of the national anthem.
Expert opinions on the new constitution ranged from angst to elation.
"The draft constitution
will end the state of political division, because it will cancel the
constitutional decrees that the president issued," said Dawood Basil, an
expert in constitutional law from Cairo University. "I feel
overwhelming joy after hearing the final wording of the articles."
"All Egyptians -- of all
background -- were taken into account when efforts were made to put
together this draft," said Ramadan Battikh, a professor of
constitutional law at Ain Shams University.
Critics say the constitution could lead to excessive restrictions on certain rights, moving Egypt closer to Sharia law.
"As far as rights are
concerned, the 1971 constitution was much better," said Dr. Mustapha
Kamel Sayed, a Cairo University professor, referring to the old
constitution still in place under Mubarak.
Heba Morayef, the Egypt director for Human Rights Watch, said "there aren't really any protections for women," for instance.
The preamble includes
language pertaining to women, stating that they are equal to men but
also accentuating their roles as mothers.
"There is no dignity for
a nation which does not honor women; women and men are equal, for they
are the fort of motherhood, half of the society and partners in all the
gains and national responsibilities," it reads.
Citing the family as
"the foundation of society," it guarantees free maternal health care and
promises to reconcile "a woman's duties toward her family" and her job.
Other provisions
distinctly protect individuals' civil rights, particularly in how they
are treated by security forces and the judicial system.
They include wording to
prevent arbitrary arrest and detention, and ensure due process by the
courts, a sensitive topic in Egypt, as Mubarak and his loyalists are
blamed for jailing and harshly mistreating innocents before and during
last year's uprising.
Anyone jailed cannot be
interrogated without an attorney present, and if detainees don't have
one, the judicial system must appoint one.
Phone conversations, electronic correspondence and other communication cannot be tapped without a warrant.
Article 65 guarantees
social security benefits to all Egyptians. Lawmakers could be seen
applauding on Egyptian state TV after its approval.
As the constitutional debate unfolded, fresh clashes broke out Thursday between rowdy protesters and police in central Cairo.
The mayhem prompted the closure of the U.S. Embassy near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the current protests and those in 2011.
The Muslim Brotherhood
has called for its own demonstration Saturday, in what would be the
biggest public show of support for Morsy since he issued his
controversial edict.
They will be joined on the streets Friday and probably Saturday by opposition protesters.
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