PROMINENT EGYPTIAN JUDGE SAYS SHAM ELECTIONS WILL NOT LEGITIMISE THE COUP
Washington, 1 Jumadil Akhir 1435/ 1 April 2014 (MINA) – The Egyptian former judge and constitutional expert Tariq Al-Bishri said that the ratification of the 2014 constitution via public referendum does not grant the coup authorities any legitimacy.
In statements to Al-Arabi Al-Gadid website, Al-Bishri said: “the referendum was held amidst illegitimate conditions, unlike the 2012 one,” Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Tuesday.
Al-Bishri criticized the role granted to the Armed Forces in the new constitution, saying that it “technically sets the army apart from other institutions of the state and grants the president more powers than the 2012 constitution.”
Furthermore, Al-Bishri dismissed the presidential elections currently underway as “a new phase of the July coup”.
Tarek El-Bishry (born November 1, 1933) is an Egyptian thinker and Judge, considered one of Egypt’s top legal minds.[1] On February 15, 2011 El-Bishry was appointed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to head the committee set up to propose constitutional changes in the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011
Tariq al-Bishri graduated from the Faculty of Law at Cairo University in 1953. Upon graduation, he was appointed after the Council of State, where he worked until his retirement in 1998. At the time of his retirement, he held the offices of first deputy (Al-na’ib al-awwal) to the Council of State and Chairman of its General Assembly for Legislation and Consultation (Al-jama’iya al-‘umumiya lil-fatawa wal-tashri’).
El-Bishry was a secular leftist but became a prominent “moderate Islamic” political thinker, which gained him respect as a bridge between the movements.
El-Bishry was named in 2008 by Hamdy Kandeel, a prominent Egyptian television and radio personality, as a suitable candidate for the 2011 Egyptian presidential elections, during an interview led by Amr Adeeb
Former Egyptian judge and the current regional director of Human Rights Monitor Walid Sharabi also said Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has committed a number of deadly mistakes since the July 3 military coup he led.
According to Sharabi, Al-Sisi and the military establishment committed crimes that further assured the world of the dangers of having a military ruler for Egypt. Sharabi pointed out that Al-Sisi claimed at his coup announcement that he was not seeking power. However, he exposed his intentions by imprisoning the elected president and then nominating himself for presidency.
The fact that he announced his presidency bid in military fatigues is another proof that what happened on July 3 was a military coup rather than a revolution, Sharabi stressed.
Among Al-Sisi’s faults, says Sharabi, is his role in the involvement of the military and police in crimes against humanity and in “an open insurgency war against the Egyptian people.” Furthermore, Al-Sisi has undermined political life in Egypt and repressed all his opponents. (T/P04/E01).
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
