The Egyptian government has been under "the state of emergency" since 1981. Criticized for that, the government is now proposing to amend the constitution in exchange for the nominal end of emergency, but the amendments in effect will perpetuate emergency and write it into the constitution and legitimate it. There will be a "referendum" on the amendments on 4 April 2007, which no doubt will be bogus.
Against that, a new alliance has emerged, uniting Islamists, liberals, and socialists. <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2366502.ece> Protesters claim Egypt has become police state By Peter Popham in Cairo Published: 17 March 2007 Riot police and others in plain clothes fought protesters in Cairo's central Tahrir [Liberation] Square this week as government opponents denounced constitutional amendments which they claim will turn Egypt into a police state for ever. It could be the dissidents' last opportunity to protest. On Monday, parliament delivers its final vote on the amendments - in effect a rubber stamp - then the nation will be invited to endorse them through a popular referendum. The exercise is seen by many as a farce: the government claims that about 30 per cent of the electorate turns out to vote, but one of Egypt's most prominent activist bloggers said the figure was closer to 2 per cent. In either case, the passing of the referendum is a foregone conclusion. The most sweeping change to Egypt's constitution in 35 years will then be law. Once the amendments become law, core rights of the citizen enshrined in the present constitution will be gone. Many of those rights are already honoured more in the breach than the observance, as Egypt has been under emergency rule since 1981. Others, however, are new and ominous, including the removal of judicial supervision of elections, which is meant to prevent vote-rigging. The new constitution will remove the requirement on police to obtain warrants before searching homes or bugging phones and email, and end the right to trial before a judge of "terrorists" - defined broadly to include moderate Islamist opposition politicians. In future, they will be tried by military tribunal At a small, chaotic demonstration in Tahrir Square on Thursday, a leader of the Kifayah! [Enough!] movement said: "These are not constitutional amendments, it's a constitutional coup. The aim is to block the remaining channels of democratic participation and resistance, and the ability of the judiciary to address wrongs in the system. The government's aim is to gain complete control of elections. "The clause on terrorism gives the government exceptional powers to arrest people, invade their homes and suspend guarantees of civil rights. The clear aim is to achieve perpetual absolutism and dictatorship." The reforms are seen as a way for President Hosni Mubarak to pave the way for a smooth transfer of power to his son Gamal, though neither elder nor younger Mubarak will be drawn on the issue of a dynastic succession. The opposition to the constitutional overhaul has seen a rare alliance emerge between the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed but popular Islamist opposition group, and a motley array of socialists, communists and liberals who make up the rest of the opposition. <http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE120082007> AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE AI Index: MDE 12/008/2007 (Public) News Service No: 053 18 March 2007 Embargo Date: 18 March 2007 00:01 GMT Egypt: Proposed constitutional amendments greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years Amnesty International today called on Egyptian members of parliament to reject proposed amendments to the country's constitution, which the organisation described as the most serious undermining of human rights safeguards in Egypt since the state of emergency was re-imposed in 1981. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6493171,00.html> Egyptian Parliament Approves Amendments Monday March 19, 2007 11:46 PM AP Photo XAN104 By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egypt's parliament on Monday approved a controversial set of amendments to the constitution that the opposition has denounced as a blow to democracy in this top U.S. ally in the Mideast. -- Yoshie
