Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Brotherhood dominates human rights council, replacing dissolved NDP

Egypt Independent 
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/brotherhood-dominates-human-rights-council-replacing-dissolved-ndp
 
 
The Shura Council’s general committee on Tuesday made new appointments to 
the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Egypt’s governmental watchdog, 
choosing mostly members with an Islamist background.
 
The NCHR was formerly dominated by the now dissolved National Democratic 
Party. The regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak used the council to 
polish its tarnished record of human rights abuses.
 
The committee appointed Judge Hossam al-Gheriany, the current head of the 
Constituent Assembly who is known to have Brotherhood sympathies, as the 
acting head of the NCHR. Socialist Popular Alliance Party member Abdel 
Ghaffar Shokr was named as Gheriany’s deputy.
 
Many members are known for their Islamist orientation, including former 
presidential candidate for the Salafi Asala Party Abdullah al-Ashal, former 
Salafi Nour Party MPs Talat Marzouk and Abdallah Badran, and pro-Brotherhood 
preacher Safwat Hegazy. Muslim Brotherhood leaders Mohamed al-Beltagy, 
Mahmoud Ghozlan, Mohamed Tosoun and Hoda Abdel Moneim, as well as the group’s 
lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, were also appointed to the council.
 
Other figures appointed to the NCHR are doctor and writer Amire Abouel 
Fotouh, Constituent Assembly member Ehab al-Kharrat, economic expert Abdel 
Khaleq Farouk, former MP Marian Malak, lawyer Fahmy al-Damati, and Coptic 
activist and professor Mona Makram Ebeid. Activists Ahmed Harara, Mohamad 
Zarea, Tarek Mouawad, Hanna Gerges, Ahmed Seif al-Islam and Wael Khalil were 
also named to the council.
 
The NCHR’s secretary-general will be elected among the 25 members or be 
appointed from outside the council in accordance with its established law, 
sources at the Freedoms and Justice Party said.
 
The Free Egyptians Party criticized the new formation of the council. Free 
Egyptians Party spokesperson Ahmed Khairy questioned the council’s criteria 
for selection.
 
“The Shura Council’s choices reveal how absurd it is. When it chooses Safwat 
Hegazy as a member of the National Council for Human Rights, it definitely 
does not know what it is doing,” said Khairy. 
 
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IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

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