Puppet Enemies unite against Egyptian president after controversial decree

Egyptian rights activists and supporters of former dictator Hosni Mubarak have become united in chanting the same slogans against President Mohamed Morsi’s recent constitutional declaration, a report says.

“Supporters of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and the human rights advocates who dedicated themselves to toppling the longtime autocrat never dreamed they would find themselves chanting the same slogans,” the Washington Post said in a report on Monday.

On November 22, President Morsi issued a constitutional declaration that is widely speculated to sweepingly expand the Egyptian president’s powers.

The decree opens the way for the retrials of officials involved in the clampdown on popular protests that toppled Mubarak in early 2011. It also prohibits courts from challenging Morsi’s decisions.

The report also referred to recent tensions in Egypt triggered by the new presidential decree, saying, “Egypt has quickly been embroiled in a crisis that may threaten the democratic ideals of the revolution more than any other development in the tumultuous 21 months since Mubarak was deposed.”

The presidential decree also allows the president to take “any decision or measure to protect the revolution,” an initiative interpreted by some analysts as a means to consolidate his influence.

The constitutional declaration has been met with an outcry of protests by the Egyptian political elite and ordinary people. The protesters have been camping at Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square since the declaration was made.

On Sunday, a 15-year-old member of the Muslim Brotherhood was killed and 60 other people were injured in an attack on the party’s headquarters in the town of Damanhour.