| Top court rejects Egypt House recall |
CAIRO Egypt’s top court on Monday rejected a decree by President Mohamed Mursi to reinstate the parliament it ruled invalid, setting him on a collision course with the judiciary and the military which enforced the ruling.
“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.
This came after Mursi decided to order back the Islamist-led lower house of parliament a month after the court found certain articles in the law on parliamentary elections to be invalid, annulling the house.
The powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which was running the country after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising last year, had dissolved parliament based on the ruling.
The court’s move could spark a confrontation between Mursi, who stepped down from the Muslim Brotherhood when he was sworn in last month, and the SCAF as well as the judiciary.
But the presidency insisted the decree “neither contradicts nor contravenes the ruling by the constitutional court.”
The ruling does not need to be implemented immediately according to precedent, said presidential spokesman Yasser Ali, arguing that Mursi’s decision “takes into account the higher interest of the state and the people.”
Mursi’s decree also stipulates the organisation of new parliamentary elections two months after the approval by referendum of Egypt’s new constitution and the adoption of a new law regulating parliament.
Hours after the top court rejected Mursi’s decree, the Supreme Council of the Armed forces (SCAF) underlined the “importance of the constitution in light of the latest developments,” the official Mena news agency reported.
SCAF said it was “confident that all state institutions will respect constitutional declarations.” Mena also quoted the SCAF statement as saying that it had only agreed to dissolve parliament after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the “People’s Assembly is invalid.”
The confrontation prom-pted the United States to urge Egypt to respect “democratic principles.”
Agencies
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