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The Cairo Criminal Court confirmed the Attorney General's decision to freeze the assets of 29 prominent Members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and their families on February 28, 2007. The assets to be worth 1.8 Billion Egyption Pounds -- around U$ 315 million.
The National Council of Human Rights and the Egyptian Coalition for the Support of Democracy are training 3500 lawyers to monitor elections. The training is taking place throughout 2007 and aims at preparing monitors for the March 26 referendum on the constitutional amendments as well as the Shura Council partial elections due later this year.
The Higher Committee of the Wafd party has officially rejected the constitutional amendments prepared by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The party maintains that the changes will not be conducive to more freedom and that they tend to be a setback to democracy. The party vowed to coordinate its efforts with all opposition forces in opposing the changes.
The ministry of education decided to ban the teaching of history from foreign curriculum in foreign schools operating in Egypt. The ministry considers that history should be thought according to the Egyptian curriculum to preserve the national identity. The decision was taken after the ministry realized that a foreign school history class was teaching that the pyramids were built by Hebrews.
Ahmed Seif-El -Islam Al-Banna, secretary general of the Lawyer Syndicate, expressed his opposition to the constitutional amendments. According to Al-Banna the amendments will suppress political liberties and will not put Egypt on the path of democracy. Al-Banna is a prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the son of Hassan Al-Banna- the founder of the MB in the 1920s.
On March 12, 2007, all opposition parties and movements represented in parliament held a press conference in the headquarter of the Wafd party in which they officially opposed the constitutional amendments. The parties and movements represented were the liberal Wafd Party, the leftist Tagammu, the Arab nationalist Karam party, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Independent MPs. Mahmoud Abaza, the Wafd leader, read a statement in their name.
On March 15, the security forces crushed the first main demonstration against the constitutional amendments. The protesters included activists from Kefaya as well all opposition movements and parties. The security forces arrested dozens of protesters and prevented hundred from reaching central Cairo. The protesters were demonstrating against the proposed constitutional amendments considering them not reflecting the hope of the Egyptian people in drafting a democratic constitution.
All opposition parties and movements called for the boycott of the referendum on the constitutional amendments. The opposition maintains that the regime ignored all their demands on the constitutional amendments, including limiting the terms of the president, constitutional guarantees for free and fair elections and not to have an anti-terrorist law that would be harsher than the current emergency law. The opposition considers that these amendments betray the regime's promises for reforms.
On March 26, 2007 Egyptians voted on the referendum for amending 34 articles of the Constitution. According to the Egyptian authority the amendments were approved by 75 percent of the voters with a 27 percent participation. However, civil society organizations that monitored the referendum claim that the voter turnout did not exceed 3 percent of registered voters.
The security forces released Kefaya activists who were under arrest on March 27,2007. Some activists were arrested shortly before the referendum on the constitution and were kept inside trucks in the desert near Cairo. Some protesters complained about the precarious sanitary conditions of their detention inside trucks.
