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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Parliament trounces travel right
By Gamal Essam El-DinAfter intensive debates that were the focus of nationwide attention, the People's Assembly was expected to approve a controversial bill intended to facilitate and speed up litigation in personal status disputes, particularly divorce. Parliamentary sources said that if the bill was not approved on Wednesday, voting on it will have to be postponed until the second half of February, when the assembly is scheduled to reconvene.
Of the three controversial articles, one, which gives a woman the right to travel without the permission of her husband, was rejected by the assembly. A second, granting divorce to couples married the Urfi (unregistered) way, was approved. A third, giving a woman the right to a court divorce -- irrespective of her husband's consent -- if she foregoes her financial rights (Khul'), was approved after the introduction of a government-proposed amendment. The amendment, suggested by Justice Minister Farouk Seif El-Nasr presumably to allay deputies' opposition, made divorce possible only after a judge makes, but fails, attempts to reconcile the couple. In making such an attempt, the amendment said the judge should seek the assistance of two "mediators," one from the husband's family and the other from the wife's family.
Mindful of the numerous objections that were made against the three articles in preliminary debates last week, the government surprised deputies on Tuesday with a compromise package that opened the way for the final approval.
Addressing the assembly, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli said the government had realised that "the travel article" upset the general public. "But the government does not have a pre-determined position on this article. In fact, the government has been eager to listen to the various arguments of deputies and also took note of the established rules that a woman cannot be granted the right to travel without her husband's approval," said El-Shazli. His comments were met with applause.
Tuesday's debate had been marred by a verbal clash between Yassin Serageddin of the liberal Wafd Party and People's Assembly Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour. As a result, Serageddin and three other Wafdist deputies walked out. Before leaving the assembly hall, Serageddin asserted that deputies were being rushed to debate the law. "Besides, the assembly does not seem to bother at all to listen to the opposition's viewpoint which is supported by documents. Unless it listens to this viewpoint, the assembly will turn out to be something like a cabaret."
This angered Sorour. He told Serageddin that it is shameful to use such a word (cabaret) to describe the assembly.
Serageddin claimed that the bill was the subject of discussion in the Shura Council in 1998. "Following lengthy debates that dragged on for an entire year, the bill was formulated by the Shura Council in 63 articles and then submitted to the president," Serageddin said. "The bill later disappeared but reappeared suddenly in December 1999 in a different form. Eighteen articles had been added."
Serageddin said that contrary to what was mentioned last week, a large number of members of the Islamic Research Academy had objected to the bill. "In the academy's final meeting on the bill, only 23 members -- out of a total of 50 -- were present. This means that the meeting, which was headed by the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, was null and void," said Serageddin.
Responding to Serageddin, Hamdi Zakzouq, Minister of Al-Awqaf (religious endowments), insisted that a majority of academy members were present. "The academy had been discussing the bill for three months and the discussions were fully free and open," Zakzouq said.
