ICC Note:
“As the Muslim Brotherhood continues building a future for Egypt that would place that nation in the ranks of the radical Islamist regimes, the U.S. State Department is still downplaying the course of events in the aftermath of the Arab Spring,” the New American reports. While an Islamist-led panel prepares to draft the country’s new constitution, the outlook for Christians looks grim.
By James Heiser
3/29/2012 Egypt (New American) – As the Muslim Brotherhood continues building a future for Egypt that would place that nation in the ranks of the radical Islamist regimes, the U.S. State Department is still downplaying the course of events in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring.” But as the Egyptian government begins the process of drafting a new national constitution, it is clear that Islamists will dominate the process.
In recent months, members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Al-Nour Party gained a clear majority of seats in both houses of the Egyptian parliament. As reported for The New American on February 28:
The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party took 58 percent of the available seats in the upper house of Egypt’s parliament, while the even more extremist Salafist Al-Nour Party took a quarter of the seats. In all, more than 80 percent of the contended seats in Egypt’s upper parliament are now in the hands of Muslim extremists. Last year’s “Arab Spring” is now more fully manifesting its true character: the transformation of Egypt into a more stridently Islamist regime.
One of the results of that clear majority is that the drafting of the new Egyptian constitution will be overseen by a man whose views are in keeping with those of the newly elected parliament, Mohamed Saad al-Katatni. Al-Katatni had been imprisoned during the last days of the Mubarak government because of his involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood. Following last year’s revolution, he founded the Freedom and Justice Party and became the Secretary-General of the party. Following the triumph of his party in the parliamentary elections, al-Katatni resigned as Secretary-General of the party on January 22, and was elected Speaker of the lower house of Egypt’s parliament — the People’s Assembly — the next day. Some might argue that it was virtually inevitable that al-Katatni would be assigned the role of overseeing the drafting the nation’s new constitution.
Nevertheless, al-Katatni’s appointment was not without controversy. In fact, his selection — and the makeup of the 100-member panel— was preceded by resignations and was greeted by protests in the streets. An article by Mohannad Sabry in the Miami Herald explains the reasoning behind the resignations and protests:
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With reports surfacing that the Muslim Brotherhood may have plans to replace the governments of other Arab nations with ones which are more sympathetic with their Islamist agenda, the willingness of al-Katatni’s party to simply eliminate the opposition from the political equation may not only signal a similarity to the regime that it recently displaced — it may signal the course of their intentions for other nations which they are allegedly intending to reshape in their own image.
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In fact, with ‘liberals’ and Christians departing the panel in protest, it remains to be seen whether al-Katatni will be able to get any significant non-Islamist participation in the work of the panel. While the State Department spokeswoman declared, “We’re not going to judge these groups by their names [or] their history. We’re going to judge them by what they do, we’re going to judge them by the output,” those who know al-Katatni’s party the best are quickly disassociating themselves from a process that they appear to believe has a predetermined outcome which is inimical to their interests.
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