The Canada Egypt Business Council (CEBC) hosted a special event and panel discussion featuring prominent lawyer and former Chief of Lawyers, Dr. Ragai Attia, and the distinguished writer, Dr. Lamis Gaber the discussion was moderated by Dr. Nabil Hilmy of Hilmy Law Firm. The discussions revolved around the new phase Egypt is going through and what seems like an alarming hegemony of one power over the political scene and especially over writing the nation’s constitution; a subject that is becoming increasingly contentious.

The event is part of a series of events addressing economic and political issues pertaining to Egypt after the revolution. Around 200 notable attendees were present at the event from ministers, ambassadors, CEBC members and guests, among whom was Amre Moussa, former General Secretary of the League of Arab States and President of the newly-established Conference Party, Counselor Yehia El Gamal, former Deputy Prime Minister and Dr. Ibrahim Fawzy, Dr. Mostafa El Said, Dr. Osama Heikal, Ambassador Moshira Khattab, Dr. Ali Moselhy and Counselor Adly Hussein. Also present was Counselor Tarek El Mahdy, Governor of the New Valley.
CEBC Chairman, Mr. Motaz Raslan, delivered the opening remarks for the discussion describing the current period and its astounding nature as the most significant in Egypt’s modern history and that it is in fact shaping the path towards the second republic. Raslan sees that despite reaching a degree of stability, political turmoil is ongoing and new opposition coalitions are forming, especially now that the military has exited the political scene. He added that some are optimistic about the new leadership, while others fear what is dubbed the “Brotherhoodization” of the state and slowness in confronting some of the pressing issues.

After a short introduction by Dr. Nabil Hilmy, Counselor Ragai assumed the floor. Counselor Attia has a celebrated career which started in Military Courts…flourished in law and bore fruit in the form of publications on Islamic thought. He litigated some of the most historical cases in modern times, namely the Takfeer and Hijra case, former president Anwar El Sadat’s assassination among others. Attia is also a former member of the Shura Council (Egypt’s upper representative house) by appointment and a former member of Islamic Research Complex. He has published many books on Islam among other topics.

Attia started by describing the current period by gravely dangerous. He lamented the lack of leadership in the Egyptian revolution, which was inherent in its spontaneous nature. As a result, Attia said, the youth who started the revolution were crowded out of the scene by other political factions, the most prominent of which are the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis. The foremost challenge facing the new republic is the absence of a constitutional state, Attia warned.

Attia spelt out what he considered breaches of the constitutional state. He criticized the annulled elections law, which was formed in favor of party candidates as a result of pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood. He said that there was a great deal of vagueness concerning the issuance and amendment of this law. He moved on to criticize the Muslim Brotherhood’s vicious attacks on the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) for ruling the elections law unconstitutional and dissolving the People’s Assembly. Attia said that while the Supplementary Constitutional Declaration was not entirely favorable, articles regarding the Constituent Assembly (CA), which gave SCAF and the SCC a check over the process, were particularly essential. “Therefore, the declaration’s annulment jeopardized Egypt’s new constitution”, he said.

The new CA is also legally flawed, Attia said (the first was disbanded by a court order). He elaborated on the legal reasons that necessitate its dissolution, explaining that at the moment the assembly has only 79 legitimate members, 70% of which are members of the Muslim Brotherhood or its political arm the Freedom and Justice Party.

The renowned lawyer went into more detail and criticized the article in the draft constitution addressing gender equality. He denounced stating numerous fields where equality between men and women should be upheld, while adding “in a way that does not contradict with the rulings/ordinances of Islamic Sharia” to make all the former stipulations subject to varying interpretations of Sharia, as ‘rulings’ in Sharia are variable, as opposed to the more moderate and less controversial ‘principles’ of Sharia.

Attia concluded his word stressing on the importance of the rule of law on the ruler before the ruled. “The greatest challenge to Egypt is that the constitutionality of the state is in danger and that the developments on the scene forewarn of a persistence to dominate and overrule all the values of a constitutional state,” he concluded.

Dr. Lamis Gaber assumed the floor and gave a word before the discussion began, she is a prominent writer, married to the super star Yehia El Fakharany, among her famous works is the Arabic series, King Farouk, which was produced in 2007. She sees that the muslim Brotherhood propaganda should not be at the expense of the taxpayer, as she criticized their domination of state-owned media. She said that we moved from a regime where one man was ruling the country to another doing the same. Gaber concluded her word calling upon intellectuals to stand up for the truth and speak up against the hegemony of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Prominent thinker and celebrated professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim made a comment and said that the time he spent as a political prisoner, side by side with different Islamic political prisoners, taught him about the Muslim Brotherhood. Ibrahim suggested that an alternative constitution be drafted by civil powers and be presented for referendum, so that people have a choice. Ibrahim implored the audience to rally around that and said that if this were not successful, civil disobedience would be the remaining resort.

Former Economy Minister Mostafa El Said agreed with some of what the speakers said, but blamed the other powers on the scene for dispersing their power. He called for them to unite to achieve true democracy, “a democracy that does not exclude the Muslim Brotherhood, the challenge is ours to establish true democracy through the ballot box, and the principles of democracy”, said El Said.

Many powers have expressed their deep concern with the draft articles the CA is producing. Several factions and parties’ representatives have performed a mass walkout of the assembly in objection to Islamist domination, and other major powers are currently considering withdrawing. El Azhar is trying to meditate between the different powers on the assembly, and president Mohamed Morsi has promised to guarantee that the CA is representative of all Egyptians. Also looming in the horizon is the prospect of its dissolution by an administrative court order that is expected on October 2nd. Whether the CA, which maybe producing what the latest resigning member called, “the worst constitution yet”, will continue the task assigned to it and become a key shaper of the second republic is something the coming few weeks will reveal.