Egypt court delays key ruling amid squabbling

CAIRO — A court Tuesday postponed issuing a key ruling on whether a Muslim Brotherhood-led panel tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution is legal, after Islamists protested outside the courtroom and squabbled with rival lawyers inside in a tense session.

The tensions were a sign of the stakes in the case, which will effectively determine who oversees the process for writing the constitution — the Brotherhood or the military. That has made the case the latest front in their struggle over power since Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood won last month’s presidential election.

The current 100-member constituent assembly is led by the Brotherhood and other Islamists. If Cairo’s High Administrative Court orders it disbanded, the military — which took power after last year’s ouster of Hosni Mubarak — would create the new panel.

A verdict disbanding the panel would be the latest in a series of blows the Brotherhood has suffered from the judicial system. Earlier court rulings dissolved a previous constituent assembly, also dominated by Islamists, and dissolved the Brotherhood-led parliament last month.

During Tuesday’s six-hour court session, Brotherhood supporters pointed at rival lawyers and chanted “remnants” — as in, remnants of the former regime. Judges had to suspend the session twice because of pushing and shoving between the rival sides.

In response, protesters chanted, “The people want to cleanse the judiciary.”

The court is to convene again Thursday, when it might issue a ruling. First, however, it must decide on a motion by Brotherhood lawyers demanding the judges be changed. If it accepts the motion, new judges would be named; if not, it will likely issue its verdict on the constitutional panel.
Sobhi Saleh, a leading Brotherhood member and a lawmaker of the dissolved parliament, warned that disbanding the panel “would complicate the problem, not resolve it.”

“Now if the military puts forward their own constitution, no one is going to accept it, and the military generals will be the ones challenging the regime.” — AP