Friday,30 March 2012 Egypt's Al-Azhar withdraws from constitution panel
Friday,30 March 2012 Source : -AFP CAIRO: Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest authority, said on Thursday it was withdrawing from a disputed panel dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood to draft a new constitution, following the example of liberals. Al-Azhar said in a statement that it was under-represented in the constituent assembly which the Islamist-majority parliament appointed to draft the new charter. "Al-Azhar announces that it will not participate in the panel," it said in a statement, because it was "not appropriately represented." The Coptic Christian Church, which has only a handful of representatives in the panel, is also considering pulling out, according to press reports. The constitution is to replace the one suspended by the military when it took power following president Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year in a popular uprising. Members of the panel elected the Islamist speaker of parliament Saad Al-Katatni as its head on Wednesday, intensifying a standoff with secularists over the nature of the charter. Al-Katatni belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, which dominated parliamentary elections after Mubarak's ouster. His appointment came after liberal, leftist and independent parties and figures angrily withdrew from the committee, accusing Islamists of monopolizing the process. Only 74 of the 100-member panel attended the first session on Wednesday, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. The constituent assembly's legitimacy was further called into question after Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court announced it was withdrawing its representative from the panel earlier on Wednesday. The crisis comes at a critical time in Egypt's transition, with the first presidential elections since Mubarak's fall less than two months away. The revolt paved the way for the formation of dozens of political groups and movements of all political stripes, but it is the Islamists - the most organized and with a wide network of supporters - who have gained the most. -AFP [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
