Cairo - Akram Ali
"Morsi Go" is written in Arabic on the road in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday. Egypt's highest judicial authority on Saturday
The reactions of the Egyptian press regarding Morsi’s recent decree have varied. Pro-Morsi newspapers considered that Morsi’s constitutional declaration fulfilled the revolution demands, while the opposition saw it as the beginning of a dictatorship, miming the predecessor’s
regime.
Under the title "Morsi says: I am for all Egyptians" Al-Ahram national newspaper highlighted the president's speech in front of the Federal palace amidst his supporters, where he stressed that he seeks to achieve political and economic stability, and reaffirmed the principle of shared power.
He added that opposition doesn’t worry him, stressing that he is keen on the existence of a strong opposition. He insisted that all his decisions aim at maintaining the safety of the homeland, people and the revolution.
The newspaper "Al-Ahram" covered the demonstrations in many Egyptian governorates, describing it as demonstrations with diverse goals. The protests in Tahrir Square were against the new constitutional declaration, while the "Federal Palace" demonstration supported Morsi’s decision.
On the other hand, the "Freedom and Justice" newspaper, the ruling party mouthpiece, highlighted President Mohamed Morsi speech without even mentioning the protests in Tahrir Square, which rejected his decree.
Under Morsi’ speech text, the newspaper published a poll of Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, considered by some as a pro-Muslim Brotherhood channel, surveyed the opinions of 13,000 individuals. The survey concluded that 92% of participants in the vote (12 thousand voters), support decisions issued by President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday, while only 8% of the voters (around 1000 voters) opposed the decision.
The newspaper did not mention anything about Tahrir protests but conducted interviews with supporters of the declaration. Supporters included, according to the newspaper, many of the movements and revolutionary Islamist coalitions like al- Nour Party and the Salafist Group. There also were non-political citizens who came only to support the president’s decisions.
The newspaper also reported that the mother of the martyr Mina Daniel came to the Federal Palace in order to support the president's decisions, which aims to prosecute the killers of the martyrs, and grant a generous pension to the families of the martyrs and the injured.
The independent Al Masry Al Youm newspaper highlighted the tweets of Mohamed El-Baradei, the Constitutional Party founder, calling for Mohamed Morsi to withdraw the constitutional declaration before things get worse. "On behalf of the masses of people huddled in the Egyptian squares, we ask you once again to withdraw the constitutional declaration before the situation aggravate," El-Baradei said.
With an article entitled: “Tahrir protests shows secular power schism, according to Islamists” the newspaper interviewed Azab Mustafa, member of the Freedom and Justice Party Supreme Authority:“Civil forces who participated in the Tahrir protests are seeking to implement their own agendas and achieve personal interests. They took the constitutional declaration out of context; they accept what fits their agendas and criticise anything that goes against their personal interests.”
The independent daily “Youm7” revealed the reasons behing Morsi’s decree, leaked by a source close to the presidency.
The information indicated that the Constitutional Declaration was a preemptive strike against the Constitutional Court after the president learnt that the court would discuss next month three important cases, notably the case evoked by a number of politicians and activists demanding the abolition of the constitutional declaration, issued by Morsi in the second of August, which granted him the current executive and the legislature powers.
It also highlighted Tahrir’s demonstrations with the title: “Tahrir rises against Morsi’s decision”.