A rapporteur for the 50-member panel drafting Egypt’s new constitution has said that the first draft will be put forward on Tuesday after resolving disputes over all contentious articles related to the Armed Forces and the judicial authorities.
In press statements on Saturday, Gaber Nassar said controversy still iremains over the mechanism for referring civilians to military prosecution. He explained that the committee has rejected a proposal that would leave it to the law to determine cases in which civilians are tried by the military, arguing that this method, inherited under the 1971 Constitution, has caused an unprecedented expansion in military trials of civilians.
A possible compromise to the disagreement could involve naming particular military facilities, the assault on which would require referral to a military court, such as buildings, barracks, vehicles and personnel on-duty, excluding some military-affiliated facilities such as hotels and clubs.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
