Egypt’s Parliament Convenes despite Dissolution
Egypt's parliament convened Tuesday, despite the military council backed judiciary ordering it to be dissolved.
The decision forms an open challenge to the generals who dissolved the assembly last month by a high court decision.
Parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni, who like President Mohammed Mursi hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, which has the biggest bloc in parliament, opened the session with a speech aired live on state television.
"We are gathered today to review the court rulings, the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court," which ordered the court invalid, speaker Saad al-Katatni said.
"I want to stress, we are not contradicting the ruling, but looking at a mechanism for the implementation of the ruling of the respected court. There is no other agenda today," he added
Mursi had on Sunday annulled the decision to dissolve parliament, putting himself on a collision course with the judiciary and the military that enforced the ruling when it was in power.
The Supreme Constitutional Court responded to Mursi on Monday, warning him that all of its rulings were "binding."
"All the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court are final and not subject to appeal...and are binding for all state institutions," the court said in a statement.
Egypt's judiciary is accused of bias towards the military's Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF), with it being largely dominated by judges from the Hosni Mubarak-era.
Prior to the second round of presidential elections in June, the court gifted the ruling military extraordinary powers in addition to dissolving parliament, in what many observers dubbed a 'soft coup'.
Many Egyptians are concerned the SCAF, which controls a significant portion of Egypt's economy, are trying to undermine a full democratic transition in a bid to retain power.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton Tuesday called for talks among all those involved in a showdown between the Egyptian parliament and the military to bring an end to the crisis.
"We urge that there be intensive dialogue among all of the stake-holders in order to ensure that there is clear path for them to be following," she said in a press conference after talks in Vietnam.
"The Egyptian people should get what they protested for and what they voted for, which is a fully elected government making the decisions for the country going forward," she added.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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