Egypt: Shura council, constitutional panel found illegal

Cairo: Egypt’s top court Sunday invalidated an interim legislature dominated by Islamists and a panel that drafted the country’s contentious constitutions, rulings set to further deepen a dispute between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary.

The Supreme Constitutional Court said the rules on which the Shura Council, now in charge of legislation, were found illegal, but ruled that the chamber could continue functioning until a new legislature is elected.

The same court dissolved in June last year the lower house of parliament where Islamists wielded more than two thirds of seats. The latest rulings drew an angry reaction from the governing Muslim Brotherhood to which President Mohammad Mursi belongs. “The Constitutional Court continues to play politics and create crises,” said Mohammad Al Beltajui, a senior Brotherhood official.

“This court has hampered the legislative authority for a year now and continues to hamper the election of a new parliament,” he added in a tweet, referring to the court’s rejection of a new election law last week. Islamists have repeatedly accused judges of issuing politically motivated verdicts.

Al Beltajui said the latest rulings by the top court would trigger “battles and sedition” among political powers over the constitution. The court said Sunday that the rules on which the Islamist-controlled constitution assembly were created last year were illegal. The constitution, branded by the secular-leaning opposition as defective, was approved by a narrow margin of vote in a public referendum late last year. “The rulings came as expected,” said prominent opposition leader Mohammad Al Baradei.

“They expose political thuggery, which has undermined the concept of legitimacy and rule of the law,” he commented on his Twitter account. The peace Nobel laureate, who played a major role in an uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago, called for forging national reconciliation to revamp the constitution. The opposition has frequently accused Mursi of seeking to tighten his Brotherhood group’s grip on power, while the Islamist president insists he is an inclusive for all Egyptians.

In an apparent bid to play down Sunday’s rulings, Mursi’s office said that the Shura Council would keep “full” legislative power until the new parliament is elected. No specific date has been set for parliamentary polls, although they are expected to be held later this year or in early 2014.

“Protecting and respecting the constitution are a duty for all state institutions,” a presidential statement added. As the court announced the verdicts, many judges started a strike at the independent Judicial Club in Cairo to protest a move by the Shura Council to debate a controversial bill on the judicial authority. Opponents claim that the bill is designed to remove dissident judges.

Supporters, mainly Islamists, argue that the bill aims at reforming the judiciary allegedly dominated by Mubarak’s loyalists.