Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi has issued a decree replacing members of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) appointed by Mohamed Morsi. Mohamed Fayek, a Nasser-era minister of information and former secretary-general of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights, is now NCHR chairman. Fayek served as deputy chairman when the council was first established in 2003. Under the new dispensation that position is now occupied by Abdel-Ghaffar Shokr, chairman of the leftist Socialist Popular Alliance Party. Shokr is not new to the post. He resigned from the job following Morsi's controversial 2012 constitutional declaration. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Shokr said the new members give a varied representation of human rights work in Egypt. “The council's new formation is heterogeneous,” Shokr said. “It includes not only human rights activists but independent public figures with experience in public work.” Under Morsi, he added, the council had been dominated by Brotherhood and Salafi appointees. The new council members are; Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights director Hossam Bahgat, United Group director and rights activist Negad Al-Boraai, Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights director Hafez Abu Seada, Arab Centre for Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession director Nasser Amin, No to Military Trials member Ragia Omran, Egyptian Centre for Housing Rights Director Manal Al-Tibi, former presidential adviser Samir Morqos, media consultant Yasser Abdel-Aziz, feminist activist Shahenda Meqled, head of the Press Syndicate's Freedoms Committee Mohamed Abdel-Qoddous, Press Syndicate board member Gamal Fahmi, former Egyptian ambassador to the EU Mahmoud Karem, former member of the International Human Rights Council Mona Zul-Fiqqar, former Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Kamal Al-Helbawi, lawyer and former Brotherhood member Mokhtar Nouh, Cairo University international sciences professor Nevine Mosaad, Dostour Party member George Ishak, late Pope Shenouda's legal advisor Monsef Naguib Suleiman, labour rights activist Kamal Abbas and lawyer and Al-Misriyoon Party Chairman Ragaai Atteya. Nageh Ibrahim, once a leading figure in Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, refused a seat on the council, while Al-Boraai has yet to announce whether he will accept the seat offered. “I have informed Fayek and Shokr of the conditions under which I would be willing to accept the post,” Al-Boraai told the Weekly. “I'm waiting for their feedback before making a final decision.” Al-Boraai's conditions, which include amendments to the NCHR Law 94/2003, are covered by the new council's programme, says Shokr, who expects Al-Boraai to attend the council's first meeting on Sunday. Human rights groups are pressing for Law 94/2003 to be changed to guarantee the council's independence from government control and allow it to file human rights-related lawsuits and conduct prison inspections. NCHR member Fahmi argues that the council's responsibilities need to be widened. “The current situation is extremely serious and requires a broader council mandate,” Fahmi told the Weekly. “In addition to investigating human rights violations the NCHR has a role to play in raising public awareness of their economic and social rights as well as rights to the freedom of belief.” While Fahmi expects Sunday's meeting to address little beyond procedural issues Shokr is far more ambitious. “In the first meeting of the new NCHR we will form fact-finding committees that will try to open controversial files, including those pertaining to the clashes in front of the Republican Guard Club and the dispersal of the Nahda and Rabaa Al-Adaweya's sit-ins.” “The NCHR,” he adds, “faces major challenges given the prevalence of violence. The intense polarisation we are seeing increases the possibility of human rights violations.” This week also saw leaks detailing the membership of the newly established Supreme Press Council (SPC). Press Syndicate Chairman Diaa Rashwan, former chairman Galal Aref, leftist writer Salah Eissa, Dar Al-Maarif board member Osama Ayoub, Rose El-Youssef editor-in chief Osama Salama, journalist Kamal Habib, Dean of the Cairo University Faculty of Media Emad Hassan, Dean of the Faculty of Law Mahmoud Kabesh and constitutional expert Nour Farahat have all been mentioned as members. Interim President Adli Mansour is expected to approve the membership of the SPC in the next few days. The council will assume the administrative prerogatives vis-à-vis the press once exercised by the Shura Council. It is anticipated that the SPC will remain in place until the end of the current transitional period. After the endorsement of a new constitution and the end of parliamentary polls, a new law is expected to be issued to regulate the status of the press.
