In the context of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, an initiative was launched by the Government of Egypt during mid-2011 to draft what has been referred to as the "supra-constitutional principles". A draft published on 1 November 2011 sought to grant the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces military autonomy from any oversight and a permanent power to intervene in politics. It also gave the military and/or judiciary broad powers over the upcoming processes of establishing a new parliament and passing a new constitution. In order to partly satisfy secular activists who had been demanding a new (non-Islamic) constitution before parliamentary elections, the principles included guarantees for fundamental citizenship rights. The principles became known as the El-Selmi document. It gave rise to renewed large scale protests and street fighting against the government in November 2011.
References
- Zeinab El-Gundy (2011-11-16). "Political parties and powers to approve El-Selmi document, on condition it is amended". Ahram Online. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
- Matt Bradley (2011-11-19). "Islamists Lead a Massive Protest in Cairo". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
- David D. Kirkpatrick (2012-07-03). "Judge Helped Egypt's Military to Cement Power". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-17.