Beltagy: Constitution-Writing Committee Focuses Only on Serving Interests of Homeland

Beltagy: Constitution-Writing Committee Focuses Only on Serving Interests of Homeland

Dr. Mohamed Beltagy, Rapporteur of the Constituent Assembly (CA)’s Committee on Suggestions and Community Dialogue and Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in Cairo, affirmed that the new Constitution lays the ground for the best democracy in history.


He added that articles of the new Constitution achieve freedom, security and social justice, and that they improve on world constitutions in so doing.

At the University of Helwan seminar – south of Cairo, Beltagy emphasized that opponents protesting against the constitution were simply chanting slogans with no real objective or basis.

Beltagy discussed suspicions raised by certain figures about the CA, such as "Islamists manipulated the Constitution to their heart’s content", saying that the Constitution only has two articles on Sharia (Islamic Law), Article 2 and Article 11 of the 1971 Constitution, and that they have not seen any changes.

With regard to claims that "the Constitution suppresses freedoms", Beltagy challenged all critics to prove that any other constitution in the whole world grants freedom to match what has been approved in Egypt’s new national charter.

"We have invited all the people, with all segments, factions and denominations, to make suggestions for the Constitution. We never ignore any good and appropriate suggestion. There is simply no basis in truth for claims that there is a ready version of the Constitution hidden in some drawer. We as members of the CA work only to serve the interests of this homeland."