Islam likely to stay Egypt’s state religion: sources

A committee appointed by Egypt's new ruling military council to draw up a new constitution in 10 days is unlikely to remove Article 2, which says Shariah is the main source of law, informed sources told Al Arabiya.

The sources said that the committee is unlikely to touch most of the introductory articles that define the nature of the state, such as its religious, ethnic, and ideological orientation. The committee would instead focus more on amendments that would directly improve the state of democracy and guarantee the right of political participation for all.

The committee is headed by an Islamist judge, Tarek al-Bishry, who opposed and criticized ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Bishry was seen as an associate of al-Wasat (moderate) offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The committee is made up of mainly judges and politicians, including a Coptic Christian and Muslim Brotherhood MP, and the fact that it was given just 10 days to draft a new constitution would make it difficult to touch some sensitive articles, like those dealing with religion.

Article 76 is the most likely to be amended so that "it opens the door for independent candidates provided that they obtain supporting signatures from 25, 000 citizens who have the right age to vote in 15 provinces," a source told Al Arabiya.

Such condition is designed to ensure that an independent candidate has a wide support base of constituents from different provinces.

The sources added that Article 179 that was introduced to combat terrorism would likely to be removed citing the sufficiency of existing anti-terror laws.

Article 179 has stirred a lot of controversy in Egypt among legal experts and human rights activists. It stipulates that, "the state will assume responsibility for safeguarding security and public order in the face of the dangers of terrorism." This implies that suspects can be arrested, investigated and monitored without judicial supervision, approval or warrants.

The article was also seen to impede the application of articles 41 and 44 of the constitution, as well as the second paragraph of Article 45, all of which safeguard personal freedoms.