“Nour Party is a party with a religious background. But it is a political party today; it is participating with us,” President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi told Sky News Arabia Sunday, a day after a court set Feb. 21 to pronounce a ruling on the party’s dissolution because it is “based on a religious background.”
The Administrative Court stated Saturday it would rule on the lawsuit demanding the party’s dissolution, after the State Commissioners Authority presented a report recommending referral of the case to the Court of Administrative Judiciary, according to Youm7.
The State Commissioners Authority’s report said complaints related to political parties or objections to the establishment of a party falls within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court, while challenging the legality of an already established party should be referred to the Court of Administrative Judiciary, Youm7 reported.
The Nour Party is known in Egypt as a hard-line Salafi group, albeit ideologically against toppling a ruler. However, it participated in laying out the 2013 roadmap after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. A number of its supporters dissented from its position and took to streets in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The experiment and the constitution govern the reality in Egypt now… does the constitution allow parties working on a religious background in Egypt, or not?” Sisi asked during his interview with Sky News Arabia, as the country’s 2014 constitution bans religious parties.
“[The Nour Party] has not been excluded and it was with us and we try to create a ground for understanding between us. Between all of us,” Sisi added.
Referring to “groups that resort to violence,” Sisi said that Egyptians cannot tolerate bombing electric towers or metro stations because “they are peaceful and want to live.”
A large number of electric towers have been bombed and improvised explosive devices have killed scores since the ouster of Morsi in July 2013. The majority of the victims have been from the police, but civilians have also been affected.
Such incidents “create much anger and prolong any given period of time that could witness any form of solving this reality. This is difficult to change and I cannot do anything about it… Egyptians themselves are those who need to reconcile,” Sisi added.
