AWR documenting the formation of the Egyptian Constitution

Language: 
English
Sent On: 
Thu, 2013-05-02
Year: 
2013
Newsletter Number: 
19

 

AWR documenting the formation of the Egyptian Constitution

 

November 2012, members of the Constituent Assembly meet at the Shura Council for the final vote on a draft Egyptian constitution . © 2012 Reuters
 
AWR Cairo, May 2, 2013

 

For Western Christians, Easter is many weeks past, but our Coptic Orthodox brothers and sisters are celebrating Easter this weekend. Arab-West Report is therefore wishing all Coptic Orthodox readers a blessed Easter.

 
We have been working hard on completing a report for the German organization, Missio, entitled: The Development of Egypt’s Constitution: Analysis, Assessment, and Sorting through the Rhetoric.
The authors are Cornelis Hulsman (editor), Diana Serodio, research assistant at AWR; and Jayson Casper, AWR researcher. Missio is hoping to have this report in print by June 2013.
 
In preparation for this 90-page report we have researched media reporting, conducted interviews with Dr. Amr Darrag (name in transliteration: ‘Amr Darrāj), Secretary-General of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. George Missīhah, member of the Assembly for the Wafd Party, who, shortly after being nominated, withdrew his membership, Dr. Ahmed Tal’at, a jurist, who closely followed the formation of the Egyptian Constitution of 1971, Dr. Nādīyah Mustafá, political scientist at Cairo University and Ragy Sulaymān, of the Free Egyptians Party, who opposed the formation of the new constitution from the outset.
 
In conducting our work we made transcripts of the interviews conducted for full transparency. In doing so we show the context of the information used for the report. Too often researchers do not make the transcripts of interviews available. One may never know how selective they may have been in quoting their sources.
 
Most important were two interviews with Dr. Amr Darrag, since he was, as secretary-general of the Constituent Assembly, deeply involved in the formation process. The transcripts of the two interviews can be found here.
 
Jayson Casper, Diana Serodio and I asked former Assembly member George Missīhah about how Islamist the Constituent Assembly was, since this was an argument continuously presented by opponents of the current Egyptian Constitution. We walked through all (the) names of the Assembly and asked George, a Wafd member, about their Islamist tendencies. His analysis is presented here.
 
Dr. Amr Darrag disagreed with George’s analysis, which is found in his interviews, which, of course, has been incorporated in the text of the final report for Missio.
 
Also, the political scientist, Dr. Nādīyah Mustafá, a non-affiliated Islamist scholar (thus not a member of the Brotherhood or any of the Islamist political parties) and friend of AWR, was asked about the Islamist leanings of various members. That also was different from George’s assessment, but that does not matter, as it shows the varying opinions. Dr. Mustafá was deeply disappointed by the way the formation process for a new constitution was politicized. I sympathy with her. Her opinions can be found here.
 
The jurist, Dr. Ahmed Tal’at, had seen the machinations in the formation of the 1971 Constitution and wrote a book about them. He has since retired but followed with great interest the formation of the new Constitution. He was therefore a good independent legal expert for us who could advise us on the development of the current Constitution. His views are presented here.
 
Many discussions took place about key articles such as Article 2 (on Islamic law) and 219 (explaining the way Islamic law should be interpreted), as well as Article 4 about the Azhar. Dr. Amr Darrag presented us with a document showing that many key members of the Constituent Assembly initially agreed to the texts of Articles 2 and 219, as well as an earlier version of Article 4. These members include the liberals Ayman Nūr (al-Ghad Party) and Sayyīd al-Badawī (al-Wafd Party) but also Coptic Orthodox legal expert Dr. Edward Ghālib, member of Coptic Orthodox Church's Milī (Lay) Council. We obtained a copy of this document and placed it on our website.
 
Last, but not least, is Jayson Casper’s interview with Rajī Sulaymān of the Free Egyptians Party, whose party members refused to join the Constituent Assembly from the outset and found it an “unnecessary Constitution.” Rajī Sulaymān’s opinion can be found here.
 
All these interviews were used as background material for the report that Missio is soon to publish. Our past report for Missio on the attack on the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on 1.1.2011 was distributed freely to readers of AWR and we hope to be able to do this again with this report. But for this we need you to email us your postal address before May 15, if you wish to receive the printed version of this report. Of course, this Missio report will also be made accessible online.
 
Cornelis Hulsman,
Editor-in-chief