26 November 2012By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
It was very difficult for anyone to imagine
President Mohammed Mursi doing what he did, but his
spokesman announced it clearly, effectively declaring
that the president is now above all other authorities.
The spokesman said that President Mursi's decisions
are "final and cannot be contested", adding that "all
constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made
since Mr Mursi assumed power cannot be appealed or
cancelled by any individual, or political or
governmental body".
This statement is a bombshell announcing the end of
the January 25th revolution, and inaugurating the
solitary rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mursi's
decisions shocked many and united all other Egyptian
political forces the same night to warn the public
that their president was overthrowing the revolution
to become a dictator.
Mohammed Mursi had not yet completed five months as
Egypt's new president when without any reason or
provocation he buried the Egyptian revolution and
dealt the biggest blow so far to the Arab Spring. This
confirms what the skeptics said about Islamist groups
not being able to operate in a democratic manner.
Mursi and his Brotherhood group have committed the
same mistake as Hamas, when the latter turned against
the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. Hassan al-Turabi
and his Islamic Front did the same in Sudan when they
overthrew the only democratic government in the Arab
world at that time. Before both of these examples,
Ayatollah Khomeini drove away his revolutionary
partners in Iran and sought to monopolize power for
himself; a policy that continues to this day. All
these regimes came to power in the name of fighting
against dictatorships and calling for the
establishment of civilian and democratic rule, but
they seized power for themselves in the end.
The extraordinary presidential decrees issued by Mursi
three days ago were not announced by the president
himself. He authorized his spokesman to publicize them
and this indicates that these were the decisions of
the Brotherhood group, further strengthening the
rumors that Mursi is not the real decision maker in
Cairo. Earlier, when Mursi took the decision to
dismiss the Egyptian public prosecutor, he was forced
to back down when judges challenged him saying that
the appointment and removal of such figures did fall
under his jurisdiction. When political leaders
protested against his decision to incorporate
parliamentary legislation within his powers, Mursi
said he would only resort to such powers in an
extremely restricted manner, but three days ago he
used them to the maximum level.
The presidential decrees are equivalent in terms of
their importance and danger to the events of the
revolution itself. Mursi has now become the president,
the judiciary, the parliamentary councils and the
guardian of the constituent assembly. Prior to this he
dismissed the commanders of the army and intelligence
services, securing all powers for himself in a brazen
manner that even Hosni Mubarak didn't dare adopt when
he was president, although he did assume such powers
under the pretext of emergency rule.
If President Mursi does not reverse his decisions
within the next few days, Egypt will enter a new
tunnel of tension and its short period of democratic
spring will come to an end. If this dark tunnel
continues we will witness further decrees to
intimidate and control the media, to remove more
judges and administrators, and to seize more
state-owned companies. This way the Muslim Brotherhood
will strengthen its grip on the facilities of
government, not as an elected party but as an entity
seeking to seize permanent control.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.
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EsinIslam.Com
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