Gamal Essam El-Din reports from the NDP's one-day conference, where sectarian strife suddenly topped the agenda Two days of violence in Alexandria forced the National Democratic Party (NDP) to change the agenda of last Saturday's one-day conference, which condemned the outbreak and warned against the dangers of fanning the flames of sectarian strife. NDP local officials and parliamentary representatives in Alexandria were ordered to organise a public protest in Sidi Bishr, the district where violence erupted. Addressing the conference, NDP Secretary- General Safwat El-Sherif underlined that the party was committed to equality, respect of human rights and religious tolerance. "The NDP stands strongly against religious extremism and works to ensure all citizens -- regardless of religion, colour or gender, enjoy equal access to their national and constitutional rights," he said. In the People's Assembly NDP deputies stressed that attacks against Coptic Christians in Alexandria "represented an assault against all Egyptians who believe that Copts are an integral part of the nation". Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour urged the government to develop new ways to confront extremists and promote religious tolerance. Opposition and Muslim Brotherhood MPs, however, criticised the NDP for what they claimed was its role in aggravating sectarian strife. Independent MP Mustafa Bakri said the NDP's reluctance to embrace democracy in any meaningful way had led to the political alienation of Copts. "Such incidents of sectarian strife will continue as long as the NDP insists on monopolising power and resists comprehensive political reform," said Bakri. While there was clearly a consensus among those attending the conference on the importance of containing sectarian strife, far less agreement emerged over the government's legislative agenda which includes controversial laws dealing with remand in custody and anti-terror measures. The proposed legislation covering detention limits the sweeping powers currently enjoyed by the prosecution-general to order citizens to be detained while anti-terror legislation has been widely trailed as a bid to replace two and a half decades of emergency laws. According to Gamal Mubarak, chairman of the NDP's influential Policies Committee, new legislation dealing with detention and the fight against terror was first mooted by the party at its first annual conference in September 2003. "This package of initiatives," said Mubarak, "began with the annulment of state security courts, the setting up of a national commission for human rights and legal changes to allow children born to an Egyptian woman and a foreign father to acquire Egyptian nationality." Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abul-Leil told the conference that the proposed regulations governing detention would restrict the "power to remand defendants in custody to the senior assistants of the prosecutor-general rather than all members of his staff." Furthermore, said Abul- Leil, reasons would be required for any custody order, and a time limit would be set. Currently, the prosecutor-general can detain people for a maximum of 45 days without giving any reason that the defendants could challenge. The fact that this 45-day period is renewable means, effectively, that the prosecutor-general can detain citizens indefinitely without charge. Abul-Leil also said that the prosecutor-general would be encouraged to replace custody with bail whenever this is appropriate. The proposals failed to win over many of those attending the conference, with several NDP members demanding further reaching reforms. Abdel-Rehim Nafie, chairman of the Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, argued that curtailing the powers of the prosecution should be complemented with giving defendants greater rights. "Defendants should be provided with more rights, certainly in the sense that their lawyers should be allowed ample time to review cases and the related investigation reports," said Nafie. He also stressed that any new legislation should "clearly state that remand in custody should be the prosecutor-general's last resort". Moufid Shehab, minister of state for parliamentary and legal affairs, told the conference that an ad hoc commission had already been formed to review the anti-terror laws passed by Western countries since 2001, as a step towards formulating Egypt's own anti-terror legislation. "The ad hoc commission has already held three meetings during which anti-terror laws in the United States, Germany and France were scrutinised," said Shehab. "The major objective of the proposed legislation," he continued, "will be to combat crimes of terror which is a different remit to the emergency laws which give the government sweeping powers to combat different kinds of crime." In concluding the debate Gamal Mubarak said that the purpose of the party's series of one-day conferences is to help its MPs understand the aims of new legislative amendments before they go to the People's Assembly. "The one-day conferences seek to ensure that NDP MPs and the government reach a consensus over new and other laws," said Mubarak.
