Al-Azhar and Copts against Egypt's Islamisation
Cairo (AsiaNews) - "Like during the Jasmine Revolution, Christians and Muslims are coming together again for the good of the country and against too much Islamist power," said Rafik Greiche, spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church told AsiaNews after Copts, al-Azhar University and secular-oriented parties decided to boycott Egypt's constituent assembly. The decision by Khairat el-Shater, a rich businessman and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (pictured), to run in the upcoming presidential elections is also causing fear.
Today, the Synod of the Orthodox Coptic Church pulled out its representative from the constituent assembly, accusing Islamist groups of trying to write the constitution on their own, giving it a radical Islamic orientation. A few days ago, the representative of the Constitutional Court also resigned.
Last night, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also met to vet the possibility of new vote for a constituent assembly that would include all social, political and religious groups. So far, the Islamist majority in parliament has shown an unwillingness to heed suggestions coming from civil society, including the Catholic Church.
A few weeks ago, parliament named the members of the 100-strong constituent assembly, 50 from the two houses of parliament, and 50 prominent figures. Their task is to draft the country's new constitution after the fall of the Mubarak regime.
With 60 per cent of the popular vote, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists have taken advantage of their parliamentary majority to dominate the constituent assembly and prevent moderates from influencing unpopular decisions on matters like religious freedom and human rights.
The actions of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists have outraged al-Azhar authorities. Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said that the assembly did "not [represent] Azhar appropriately with a proportion commensurate with its historic role."
"The Muslim Brotherhood is keeping a phony moderate position to stay in power and pursue its radical programme for the country," Father Greiche said. "For the past few months, they have only said lies."
Until a few days before the recent election, they had said that the constituent assembly would be based on a national consensus, not a parliamentary majority. Now, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, plans to run its own candidate in the presidential election, Khairat el-Shater, the party's money man and election campaign organiser.
After their electoral victory, Freedom and Justice Party leaders had said they would not run a candidate for the presidency to avoid monopolising political power.
Khairat el-Shater, a 62-year-old multimillionaire businessman, is one of the Muslim Brotherhood's main financial contributors. In 2007, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for training al-Azhar students to carry out terrorist attacks.
The military released him following last year's revolution, but some experts believe he must get a pardon before he can run.
El-Shater is the third candidate from the radical Islamist camp after Abdel-Monein Abolgotoh, who was expelled from the Freedom and Justice Party for his political ambitions, and Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who is running for the Salafist al- Nour Party.
.png)
