President Morsi prepares to implement “revolutionary” decisions

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issued several decrees that will shape the country’s constitution and safeguard its “revolutionary” future. Morsi also ruled that none of his decisions can be overturned by any authority.
Morsi has given the Constituent Assembly a two month deadline to finish its work drafting a new constitution for the country, ruling that no authority may dissolve it until its work is created.
He further ruled that no authority may the Shura Council – the upper house of the Egyptian parliament.
In a move likely to engender criticism that he is vastly expanding his powers, he also decreed that no laws or declarations passed by the president from the time of his inauguration until a new parliament is elected can be overturned by any authority, including the judiciary.
He further dismissed the country’s prosecutor general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, appointing Talaat Ibrahim to replace him for a four-year term.
Morsi had previously attempted to remove Mahmoud for his part in the acquittal of Hosni Mubarak-era officials implicated in the killing of protesters during last year’s popular revolution.
Morsi ordered the re-trial all those charged with killing or injuring protesters involved in the uprising. In addition, all Mubarak-era officials responsible for terrorizing protesters will be retried.
In light of the sweeping powers, Egyptian opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei accused Mursi of behaving like a “new pharaoh”.
In September Egypt’s high administrative court upheld a controversial June ruling to dissolve the country’s parliament. The move was opposed by Morsi, whose Freedom and Justice Party won more seats in the 2011-2012 parliamentary elections than any other faction.
Morsi threatened to override the move – which was instituted by the country’s military rulers and the Supreme Court of Egypt – once he took office. In July he reversed his position, saying he would respect the court’s decision that the parliament be dissolved.
The fate of the country’s burgeoning constiutation has been left on equally uncertain grounds.
A court in Egypt suspended the first 100-member Constituent Assembly in April for being “unrepresentative of Egyptians.” The Supreme Administrative Court then dissolved it for containing members of parliament. The court said MPs who were responsible for electing members of the body were not supposed to be serving on it, thus making it unconstitutional. The current Constituent Assembly elected in June also contains members of parliament, placing it in contravention of the March 2011 Constitutional Decree and leaving it on shaky grounds.
The Constituent Assembly was scheduled to present a final draft of the country’s national charter by December 5.