President Mohamed Morsy's legal immunity under the new constitutional declaration is limited to decisions regarding “sovereign” issues, presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali said Monday, stressing there would be no amendments to the decree. Morsy expressed his appreciation for the judiciary and his desire that it remain independent as it is “the last resort for the people to get their rights,” Ali said in a statement following the president's meeting with members of the Supreme Judicial Council. Earlier Monday, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky said he expected that Morsy would back the Supreme Judicial Council's proposal limiting the scope of his new constitutional declaration. The council had issued a statement Sunday saying that Morsy's decree should apply only to “sovereign matters,” stopping short of an outright rejection. Some analysts explained that the exemption for “sovereign matters” implies Morsy's order that the Constituent Assembly and Shura Council cannot be dissolved would stay in place, while other presidential decisions could be challenged before courts. Morsy's concessions on Monday only solve one part of the political impasse Egypt is witnessing, observers said, because it merely resolves problems regarding the judiciary. Meanwhile, political forces will likely continue to protest the Islamist domination of the Constituent Assembly, which is now immune against any court ruling on its dissolution. Morsy called on judges not to suspend work in courts to preserve citizens' rights, and also expressed his appreciation for the council's role to preempt a collision between the executive and the judicial authorities, Ali said. According to Ali, Morsy stressed that retrials of those accused of killing protesters would be conducted if investigations reveal new evidence against the accused as stipulated by the new law for the “protection of the revolution.” Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
