| Crisis in Egypt as court refuses to rule on House |
CAIRO Egypt’s administrative court said on Thursday it had no jurisdiction to rule on two cases to determine the fate of the dissolved parliament, leaving its future stuck in a legal labyrinth.
Judge Abdel Salam Al Naggar, head of Cairo’s administrative court, referred to the Supreme Constitutional Court an appeal against a presidential decree to reinstate the dissolved parliament.
No reason was given for the decision.
It was also examining a constitutional declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces — which ruled Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year — granting the military legislative control.
Parliament has been at the centre of a power struggle between the military and newly elected President Mohamed Mursi, who was sworn in last month.
The standoff is being played out in the courts amid a dizzying array of legal rulings and appeals that has left parliament stuck in limbo.
Earlier this month, Mursi ordered parliament to convene, in defiance of a military decision to disband the house in line with a ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court.
But on July 11, the top court annulled the decree, a ruling Mursi vowed to respect.
According to the country’s interim constitution, drafted by the generals, the military assumed the dissolved parliament’s powers.
In another development, the leader of Hamas, the movement which rules the Gaza Strip, met new Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Thursday and hailed Mursi’s election as the start of a “new era” for Egypt and the Palestinians.
Meshaal and Mursi discussed ways to ensure that Gaza, which borders Egypt, gets the gas and petroleum it needs despite an Israeli blockade of the territory.
“We have entered a new era in Palestine’s relationship with Egypt, the big sister and the leader of the Arab nation,” Meshaal said after the meeting. “We were happy with what we heard from Mursi and his vision to handle all these issues.”
The talks lasted almost two hours, twice as long as Mursi’s meeting a day earlier with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
Meshaal said Egypt’s presidency and intelligence services would continue to shepherd a reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah that began last year.
Agencies
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