(AFP File Photo)
A court entitled to rule on political parties’ affairs rejected Sunday a lawsuit demanding the Al-Nour Party’s dissolution on the grounds of its religious basis.
The Parties Court, which has recently been formed and forms part of the high administrative court, ruled the inadmissibility of the complaint. This was due to the fact that the only person allowed by law to directly demand a party’s dissolution before the high court is the head of the state’s political parties commission.
The court ordered the referral of the case to a lower degree administrative court, and a judicial source told Daily News Egypt that the latter court will similarly deem the case admissible.
The plaintiff submitted the lawsuit demanding the dissolution of the Al-Nour Party amongst other Islamist parties, including the already dissolved Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), claiming the religious ideology of the parties violates constitution.
Article 74 of Egypt’s constitution states that “it is illegal to form political parties on religious bases, or based on discrimination according to gender, race or according to sectarian or geographical bases”.
The Al-Nour Party was the main political Islamist force that supported the popular uprising in June 2013 that eventually led to the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government.
The party’s head, Younes Makhyoun, was one of the very few politicians who were present when the then-defence minister, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, announced the removal of former president Mohamed Morsi.
