Egypt: New constitution may seek ban on religious political parties

Cairo: Egypt’s new constitution may seek to ban all religious parties from the political activities, according to a media report. The new draft constitution is expected to be announced on Wednesday, head of the 10-member technical committee and legal aid to the interim president Ali Awad told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_1045905” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Morsi supporters protest in Egypt. Reuters[/caption] The move comes days after violent clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi left nearly 900 people dead and thousands injured. Following the ouster of president Morsi, interim President Adly Mansour created the 10-member committee tasked with proposing amendments to the constitution. It includes six judges and four constitutional law professors. A second committee, comprised of 50 public figures, will then have 60 days to review those amendments before the proposals are put to a national referendum. The Parliamentary elections are expected to follow after the referendum. “Fundamental changes must be introduced to (the) 2012 Islamist-backed constitution,” official Ahram Online quoted a source close to the committee as saying. According to the source, the committee has agreed that the new constitution will ban political parties based on religious ideology. Such a change would reverse Article 2 of Morsi’s controversial 2012 constitution, which stipulates that Islamic Sharia law supersedes civil law. Last week, Awad was quoted as saying that Article 2 would be kept “in order to stress the Islamic identity of Egypt.” Earlier, interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi proposed dissolving the Muslim Brotherhood as the army clashed with pro-Morsi supporters across the country. “There will be no reconciliation with those whose hands have been stained with blood, and who turned weapons against the state and its institutions,” Beblawi told reporters. The government has blamed the Brotherhood for dozens of attacks on Coptic churches and Christian communities in Egypt, a charged denied by the Islamist group. PTI