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Morsi annuls controversial decree
Posted on December 09, 2013 by Akashma Online News
Source AFP
Egyptian President Morsi
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday annulled a decree he issued last month expanding his powers, an official told a Cairo news conference.
“The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment,” said Selim al-Awa, a politician acting as spokesman of a meeting Morsi held earlier with other political leaders.
A referendum on a draft constitution would however still go ahead as planned on December 15, Awa said, explaining that constitutionally Morsi was unable to change the date.
The two issues — the decree and the referendum — were at the heart of anti-Morsi protests that have rocked Egypt in the past two weeks.
The controversial decree issued November 22 had put Morsi’s decisions beyond judicial review — a high-handed measure fiercely denounced as dictatorial by the opposition.
Opposition leaders demanded it be rescinded and the referendum be scrapped before they entered into any dialogue with Morsi to calm a crisis which exploded into street clashes this week that left seven people dead and hundreds injured.
Egypt’s powerful military on Saturday warned Morsi and the opposition to sit down for talks, otherwise it would take steps to prevent a “disastrous” degradation of the situation.
An Egyptian protester takes a picture with his mobile of his children on top of an Egyptian army tank outside the presidential palace, background, in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012. Egypt’s military warned Saturday of ‘disastrous consequences’ if the crisis that sent tens of thousands of protesters back into the streets is not resolved, signaling the army’s return to an increasingly polarized and violent political scene.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Egypt’s liberal opposition has called for more protests on Sunday after the president made concessions overnight that fell short of their demands to rescind a draft constitution going to a referendum on Dec. 15.
Morsi met one of the opposition’s demands overnight, rescinding his Nov. 22 decrees that gave him near unrestricted powers. But he insisted on going ahead with the referendum on a constitution adopted by his Islamist allies.
The opposition National Salvation Front called on supporters to rally Sunday against the referendum.
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