Decree exempt from legal challenge, allows for retrial of Mubarak officials

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi triggered controversy on Thursday by issuing a decree that will likely lead to retrials of Hosni Mubarak and his aides and was compared with the ousted leader's ways.

As well as ordering retrials for Mubarak-era officials responsible for violence during the uprising against his rule, the decree shielded from legal challenge an Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution.

It gave the same protection to the upper house of parliament, dominated by Islamists allied to Morsi, and assigned the president new powers that allowed him to sack the Mubarak-era prosecutor-general and appoint a new one.

It stated that all decisions taken by Morsi until the election of a new parliament were exempt from legal challenge.

Presented as a move to "protect the revolution", the decree won immediate praise from Morsi's allies but stoked fears among secular-minded Egyptians that the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies aim to dominate Egypt. It seemed likely to deepen the divisions that have plagued the post-Mubarak era.

"These decisions will feed discord in Egyptian politics and will be far from creating a favorable climate for restoration of economic growth," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

The leading liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei, writing on his Twitter account, said Morsi had "usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh".

But Mahmoud Ghozlan, spokesman for the Brotherhood, described the move as "revolutionary and popular".

The decree appeared to remove any uncertainty still hanging over the fate of the assembly writing the constitution.

The body has faced a raft of legal challenges from plaintiffs who dispute its legality.

Critics say its popular legitimacy had been further called into doubt by the withdrawal of many of its non-Islamist members, who had complained their voices were not being heard.

The constitution is a crucial element in Egypt's transition to democracy. New parliamentary elections will not be held until the document is completed and passed by a popular referendum.

The decree also gave the body an additional two months to complete its work, meaning the drafting process could stretch until February, pushing back new elections.

A number of political forces condemned the decree and said the president "robbed the people and institutions of all the rights and powers", in a statement issued later.

The move to order a retrial of Mubarak-era officials will likely be popular among those who feel that revolutionary justice has yet to be served.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in June for failing to prevent killings that occurred during the uprising that led to his downfall in February 2011. He has been held in a prison hospital since his sentence was handed down.

Critics have faulted the process by which he and other officials were put on trial.

Morsi had tried to replace Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, the man sacked on Thursday in October.

The move kicked up a storm of protest from judges who said the president had exceeded his powers and was threatening their independence.

Morsi got around the problem this time by giving himself the power to appoint a new prosecutor-general, Talat Abdullah, whose swearing-in was shown on television.

In a statement broadcast on TV, Abdullah vowed to "work with colleagues at the public prosecution's office to uphold justice and eradicate oppression".

(China Daily 11/24/2012 page8)