The undersigned rights organizations<\/span> announce their unequivocal rejection of the constitutional\u00a0declaration issued by the president on November 22 and demand its immediate revocation.<\/p>\n These\u00a0organizations believe that the president has contravened the revolution\u2019s goals of democratization\u00a0and exploited the expansive powers he granted to himself shortly after his election to arrogate\u00a0unparalleled powers and immunize his decisions against judicial oversight, thus precluding the\u00a0possibility of any challenges or opposition to them by legal and judicial means. In this way, the\u00a0president appears to be seeking absolute powers that will allow no person or body to challenge his\u00a0rule or contest his decisions.<\/p>\n By issuing this constitutional declaration, President Mohamed Morsi directly attacked the judicial\u00a0branch, the rule of law, and indeed the very concept of the modern state. The president, who\u00a0now possesses authorities beyond those enjoyed by any president or monarch in Egypt\u2019s modern\u00a0history, has dealt a lethal blow to the Egyptian judiciary, thereby declaring the beginning of a new\u00a0dictatorship in which it is not permitted to oppose the president, criticize his policies, or challenge\u00a0his decisions. Although these acts were taken under the pretext of protecting the revolution and its\u00a0goals, they portend a bleak future for human rights and liberties in Egypt.<\/p>\n The constitutional declaration, which came as a surprise to all, grants extraordinary powers to the\u00a0president. It offers citizens a misleading preamble which celebrates the revolution and its goals of\u00a0enshrining freedom and achieving democracy and social justice and claims that the presidency\u2019s\u00a0objective is to eliminate corruption, purge state institutions, and achieve social justice. However,\u00a0contrary to these initial statements, the articles of the declaration entrench tyranny and one-man\u00a0rule, giving the president \u2013 in addition to the executive and legislative powers which he already\u00a0held \u2013 the authority to interfere in the judiciary as well. The balance and separation of powers in\u00a0Egypt has thereby been utterly demolished.<\/p>\n Through this declaration, the president severely debilitated judicial independence, obstructed\u00a0litigation, blocked the application of the laws on the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) an\u00a0on the judiciary, destroyed the authoritative nature of court rulings, and paved the way for state\u00a0institutions to refuse to implement court orders, which may well lead to the spread of chaos in\u00a0the country and the collapse of the idea of the state based on institutions rather than individual\u00a0leaders.<\/p>\n The president used the constitutional declaration to serve the interests of the Freedom of Justice\u00a0Party (FJP), putting them above the welfare of society, and to circumvent impending rulings from\u00a0the SCC on the constitutionality of the Shura Council and constituent assembly by immunizing\u00a0these two institutions from any dissolution order issued by any judicial body. These actions\u00a0undermine the rule of law and the pillars of justice and exploit presidential powers to protect the\u00a0interests of a particular political group. This is further demonstrated by the fact that the president\u00a0chose to give his speech yesterday to an audience of his supporters in front of the presidential\u00a0palace and to use strident, threatening language and affront his opponents, thus belying his\u00a0promise to represent all Egyptians as president.<\/p>\n The undersigned organizations assert their severe concern, and indeed shock, over the issuance\u00a0of such a declaration which undermines judicial independence and rule of law. We are further\u00a0alarmed that it comes at a time when a group of the most prominent advocates of judicial\u00a0independence occupy executive positions in the executive power. Indeed, the contents of the\u00a0declaration infringe on the independence that judges have long demanded from the executive.<\/p>\n Their demands have included making both citizens and rulers subject to the law, removing the\u00a0president\u2019s authority to appoint the public prosecutor, and allowing for the public prosecutor to\u00a0be instead appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council or selected by the president from a list of\u00a0candidates presented by the judiciary.<\/p>\n Through broad language open to abusive interpretation, the constitutional declaration follows\u00a0the same process of \u201ctailoring\u201d laws and constitutional provisions as was often done under the\u00a0former regimes in Egypt. Article 6 gives President Morsi absolute powers to take \u201cnecessary\u00a0measures and procedures\u201d to confront what he deems to be threats to the revolution, the \u201clife\u201d of\u00a0the nation, national unity, national safety, or the operation of state institutions. These prerogatives\u00a0could be used to restrict liberties and undermine human rights, and they grant the executive the\u00a0power to restrict citizens\u2019 rights to peaceful protest and labor strikes. In other words, the president\u00a0has assumed the power to suppress all forms of political and social protest in the country, thus\u00a0possessing another exceptional tool in addition to his authority to declare a state of emergency.\u00a0It is important to note that this article of the constitutional declaration was adapted from Article\u00a074 of the 1971 constitution, yet it goes even further by omitting the stipulation that the president\u00a0must issue a statement to the people and conduct a referendum within 60 days of declaring a\u00a0state of emergency, as well as by eliminating a provision which prohibited the dissolution of the\u00a0Peoples\u2019 Assembly even under such a state of emergency. The presence of these stipulations in\u00a0the 1971 constitution effectively ensured that the president could not exercise emergency powers\u00a0without obtaining the consent of the people in an official referendum and without the oversight\u00a0of an elected parliament. However, Article 6 of the recent constitutional declaration thus lifts\u00a0the restrictions on President Morsi which had previously limited even Mubarak\u2019s power to issue\u00a0despotic measures and decrees.<\/p>\n Since his election, President Mohamed Morsi, like the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces\u00a0before him, has disregarded the revolution\u2019s demands for security reform, the restructuring of the\u00a0Interior Ministry, and an end to impunity for grave human rights abuses. Although the preamble\u00a0of the constitutional declaration suggests that a decision has been made to purge state institutions,\u00a0current policies indicate a lack of any such intention to restructure or purge any state institution.<\/p>\n The undersigned organizations are particularly alarmed by the continued disregard for demands\u00a0for security reform, even as police forces continue to use excessive force to disperse the protests\u00a0that erupted last week on Mohammed Mahmoud Street during the commemoration of the events\u00a0which killed dozens and injured hundreds last year as a result of a brutal crackdown by security\u00a0forces.<\/p>\n Despite the incurrence of additional deaths and injuries, the president\u2019s office has been\u00a0completely silent on the subject. The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the\u00a0continuation of policies that grant impunity for human rights violations and for the killing and\u00a0maiming of demonstrators before, during, and after the revolution and currently taking place in\u00a0Mohammed Mahmoud Street and the surrounding area. The recent constitutional declaration does\u00a0not achieve justice or protect the revolution. Rather, it merely codifies policies of impunity and\u00a0provides for the continued absence of a state based on institutions and governed by rule of the\u00a0law.<\/p>\n New constitutional declaration Gives Morsi sweeping\u00a0powers and deals lethal blow to judicial independence The undersigned rights organizations announce their unequivocal rejection of the constitutional\u00a0declaration issued by the president on November 22 and demand its immediate revocation. These\u00a0organizations believe that the president has contravened the revolution\u2019s goals of democratization\u00a0and exploited the expansive powers he granted to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[358,869,354],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-771172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jointpressreleases","category-otherprograms","category-pressreleases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSignatories:<\/h4>\n
\n