Mursi ends Egypt spring

It was very difficult for anyone to think that President Mohammad Mursi would do that. But his spokesman announced it clearly. He said: “The president is above all and above all other authorities.” He also said that all the decisions taken by the president in the past ever since he took over power are “final and will be executed and cannot be appealed before any authorities.” The spokesman also stressed that the president’s decisions cannot be blocked either by not implementing them or revoking them. “This nullifies all related cases that are lodged with judicial authorities.” This statement by Mursi’s spokesman itself is like a bombshell that declares the end of the Jan. 25, 2011 revolution and beginning of the Brotherhood rule. Mursi’s decisions have shocked many and brought together all political forces in the country the same night to warn the public that the president was overthrowing the revolution to become a dictator. Mursi has not completed five months as the country’s new president and without any reason or provocation he has buried the Egyptian revolution and given the biggest slap on the face of Arab Spring. This has confirmed what the skeptics used to say that Islamist groups would not be able to work in a democratic manner. Mursi and his Brotherhood party have committed the same mistake Hamas did when the latter turned against the authority in Gaza. Turabi and his Islamic Front also did the same in Sudan when they turned against the only democratic government in the Arab world at that time. Before them Ayatullah Khumaini did it in Iran when he drove away the partners of revolution and his team tried to monopolize power and the same policy continues until today. All of them reached power in the name of fighting dictatorial rule calling for the establishment of civilian and democratic rule. But we later saw them grabbing all power. The toppling presidential decisions issued by Mursi two days ago were not announced by the president. He authorized his spokesman to make it public and this indicates that they were party decisions and not his decisions. This confirms the rumors that Mursi is not the real decision maker in Cairo. Earlier when he took the decision to remove the public prosecutor from his position he had to back down when judges challenged him, saying that the appointment and removal of judges do not come under his jurisdiction. He then appeared and announced he was backing down from the decision. When political leaders protested his decision to assume parliamentary powers he said he would use it only at a very restricted level but two days ago he used it to the maximum. The presidential decisions are tantamount to a revolution in terms of importance and danger. Mursi has become the president, the judiciary, the parliamentary councils, and caretaker of the Constitutional Council. Before that he removed commanders of the army and intelligence and arrogated to himself all powers that even Hosni Mubarak had not dared to do when he was the president. Mubarak used to take such powers under the authority of emergency rule. If President Mursi does not revoke his decisions within the next few days, Egypt would enter into a new tunnel of tension and its short period of democratic spring would come to an end. And if it continues in this dark tunnel we would witness supplementary decisions such as harassing and closing media organizations, removing more judges and administrators and taking over more public companies. This way the Muslim Brotherhood would strengthen its grip on the government facilities, not as an elected party but as a party that would like to rule the country forever. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.