[JURIST] The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) [advocacy website] on Tuesday released [text] a study pointing to at least 12 violations of 12 articles of Egypt’s constitution [text], which passed in January of this year. ANHRI alleges that since January there have been several clear violations of the constitution. The study found that most of these violations are from articles under the rights and freedoms section of the constitution. In an example of one such violation, an election has yet to be held since the constitution came into effect ten months ago, in violation of Article 230, which requires the state to hold the election for the parliamentary within six months of the constitution coming into effect. The study also found that Article 54 of the constitution, which grants citizens personal freedoms such as natural rights, secures a persons rights to know what they have been arrested for, the right to a lawyer and the right to be brought before an investigation panel to be read the charges, has also been violated. The report documents the arrest of an engineer in Egypt, in which police presented no evidence of him having committed a crime. The rights group has called on the Egyptian government to take immediate action to correct these violations of law and stop further violations.

Egypt’s transition into democracy [JURIST backgrounder] has been difficult, following the Egyptian Revolution [JURIST backgrounder] which began over two years ago. In late 2013 the Egyptian assembly finalized [JURIST report] the final draft of the current constitution, which was approved [JURIST report] by over 98% of voters in January of this year. In 2011 the Egyptian government met with oppositions leaders to discuss [JURIST report] reforms to the Egyptian constitution to which the overwhelming majority of citizens, in a vote, supported [JURIST report].