Egyptian judges, courts step up fight against Morsi edict

CAIRO — The Egyptian judiciary intensified its resistance Wednesday to a move last week by President Mohamed Morsi to greatly enlarge his power, as the country’s top courts joined a growing number of striking judges in expressions of dissent.

Egypt’s highest appeals court, known as the Court of Cassation, suspended work in protest of the edict authorizing Morsi to legislate without judicial oversight. The Supreme Constitutional Court accused the president, an Islamist backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, of participating in an attack on the justice system.

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Tear gas has been repeatedly fired at protesters in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday. The protesters are angry about President Mohammed Morsi's seizure of near absolute powers.

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Morsi’s move, which opposition groups and political analysts have deemed a power grab, set off a nationwide wave of protests, culminating in a rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday night in which tens of thousands called for the president’s ouster. On Wednesday, protesters still clashed sporadically with security forces on the fringes of the square.

The crisis has underscored the deepening polarization of Egypt’s political classes as the country struggles to define a new body of laws and the nature of its religious identity two years after a popular uprising forced longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power.

At the center of the turmoil is Egypt’s nascent constitution. The assembly tasked with drafting the charter has been dominated by Islamists — a reflection of the country’s first democratically elected parliament, which was dissolved by a court order this year.

But liberals and secularists say that the constituent assembly does not adequately represent them and accuse it of seeking to implement Islamic law through the charter. Many have seized on the outrage over Morsi’s decree as an opportunity to rally wider support against Islamist rule.

The head of the assembly said Wednesday that a final draft of the constitution would soon be ready, with a vote expected Thursday. If approved, the document would be put to a public referendum.

But opposition leaders said Wednesday that the move by the Muslim Brotherhood-led committee to push forward with the draft amid the crisis would be a grave mistake.

The assembly “doesn’t express Egyptians now, and morally and politically it’s already been dissolved,” said Hamdeen Sabahi, a prominent secular politician and one of the top contenders for Egypt’s presidency in the summer. “But if they insist on completing the draft from one side and only one faction of Egyptians — the Muslim Brotherhood — it means it won’t even be a constitution.”

Egypt’s crisis would only deepen, Sabahi added, “and, of course, we will refuse that.”

The crisis has pitted Morsi and his Islamist supporters against not only a justice system still dominated by Mubarak appointees but also an unlikely alliance of human rights groups, liberal youth activists and the old-regime loyalists they once opposed.

Opposition leaders said they planned to hold more marches Thursday and Friday, and the Muslim Brotherhood called for a rival nationwide demonstration in support of the edict Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Constitutional Court, the country’s highest judicial power, vowed to resist what it characterized as an attempt by Morsi to undermine the court system.