Just a few

The People's Assembly continued to debate the constitutional amendments, and possible weak points, writes Mohamed El-Sayed

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In the first half of the last century Copts played a pivotal role in Egypt's political life. There were two prime ministers and many ministers as well as many prominent parliamentarians from the Coptic community in the pre- 1952 Revolution era. Their presence, however, began to diminish in the second half of the 20th century, never to return. There are some Coptic figures in parliament but they are mostly appointed by the president, not elected.

As President Mubarak referred constitutional amendments to the upper and lower houses of parliament last month, pundits commended the move as it put more emphasis on the principle of citizenship, and not anything else, as a prerequisite to forming a political party.

Yehya El-Gamal, a prominent constitutional lawyer, hailed the proposed amendment of Article 5 in an opinion piece in the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. "Egypt has seen in its near past a Copt as speaker of the parliament and prime minister. But the disappearance of this [ie Copts appointed in senior governmental positions] is an unhealthy sign," argued El-Gamal.

"When the ruling party fields just a handful of Copts, this means there is disorder in political life. It also means that the principle of citizenship has yet to be established in our life," the writer added.

El-Gamal said, "We have to confess that there is real discrimination against our brethren Copts that is obvious in some [senior] positions. I'm sure that the constitution is not to be blamed for this discrimination, for it's a result of nothing but narrow-mindedness." To make his point clear, El-Gamal quoted Pope Shenouda III as saying "Egypt is not a country in which we live; rather it's a country living in us."

El-Gamal expressed concerns over the new amendments that could, he said, undermine the principle of citizenship. He warned that some of the proposed amendments to the constitution differentiate between citizens who are members of political parties, and others who are not. "The number of political party members, including the [ruling] National Democratic Party and all the political parties, does not exceed five per cent of the Egyptian people at best. And if we add the members of the Muslim Brotherhood -- in case they form a political party -- the number will not in any way exceed 10 per cent of citizens, while the remaining 90 per cent does not belong to a party," he noted.

In case this happens, El-Gamal continued, "it would be a death blow to the constitution and the principle of citizenship. It's not [plausible] to deny 90 per cent of Egyptians the right to run for elections. This means that 74 million Egyptians will be excluded from political life, and only one million will be entitled to practice their political rights." This defies the principle of citizenship and other constitutional principles, the writer maintained.

Commentators this week were also still pondering the real reasons behind the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent shuttle visit to the region and its ramifications. Abdel-Qader Shohayeb, editor-in-chief of Al-Mussawar said, "[The American administration in] Washington is like any clever trader -- it wants to buy a commodity for the lowest price possible, and wants to sell it at the highest price." In his view, Washington wants to "buy our support for its new strategy in Iraq to save it from the worst dilemma it has faced since the Vietnam defeat in exchange for some promises to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict and the creation of a Palestinian state."

Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser noticed a change of tone in Rice's discourse. " [In the past] Condoleezza Rice was upbeat in every press conference she held while [dictating] the rules of democratic reform by which the governments of the region should abide, so that they might guarantee the satisfaction of the master of the White House." However, Montasser continued, this time Rice came to the region and left "without uttering a word about democracy, political reform or human rights. And after talking in a "bossy" tone [in the past], now she is beseeching the states of the region for help to assist [Bush in his new strategy in Iraq]... Now the real goal of the American administration is to get its soldiers out of the Iraqi quagmire in a face-saving way."

Montasser saw that "whatever America is going to do in Iraq, it is now crystal clear that the governments of the region have broken free from Washington's [mounting] pressure for reform as was the case months ago."

The press was also awash with stories about the mysterious serial killer who has been attacking females in the southern Cairo district of Maadi. A feature story in the weekly October magazine ran the headline: "Serial killer, between truth and rumours." The writer wondered why policemen have failed to arrest the assailant. "Do you believe that police cars and policemen are now all over Maadi and Basateen and in southern Cairo in search of the Maadi serial killer?".

Residents of these areas said the killer, who has wounded six women with a cutter, "hand picks his victims and stabs them from behind, in the right thigh in particular, then flees." In the feature, the writer tried to answer the questions "Is he a serial killer in the true sense of the word or just a psycho? Are these attacks just individual incidents or a phenomenon?"

Head of Security in Cairo Ismail El-Shaer told the magazine that criminal investigation officers had determined the features of the killer, promising that he would fall in the hands of the police soon.

The weekly cultural magazine Al-Qahira published a study conducted by Ibrahim El-Bahie, assistant editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram, which revealed that foreign policy "comes at the bottom of Egyptian readers' interests after sports and crime". According to the study, 70.2 per cent of readers depend on opposition and partisan newspapers to find out the details of events, while 61.3 per cent depend on independent newspapers to get to know different opinions on a given subject.