Supporters of Egypt’s President Mursi Laud His New Powers

While thousands of Egyptians are protesting President Mohamed Mursi’s decree exempting all his decisions from legal challenge, the Egyptian leader’s supporters are lauding the move.

One of Mursi’s vocal backers is Gehad el-Haddad, a senior adviser to the Muslim Brotherhood. He’s also a member of the executive council of the Brotherhood’s Renaissance Project.

El-Haddad says President Mursi needed the new powers to sack an unpopular general prosecutor and to reign in a hostile judiciary that wasn’t willing to go after members of former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

“This president saw a clear danger that can derail Egypt’s transition, and he acted within his legal bounds to protect the transition against that danger,” he argued.

El-Haddad said the enhanced presidential powers would allow Egypt’s leader to block the “remaining strongholds of the Mubarak regime” in the judiciary and the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

“Every time Egypt reaches the end of its transition period, and we can almost see the shoreline of a new democracy, someone sinks the boat,” El-Haddad said. “This time the president is adamant that no one does so.”