UN rights chief concerned by Egypt constitution

December 07, 2012 - The top human rights official of the United Nations is expressing alarm about the casualties resulting from protests over Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's draft constitution. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says she welcomes Morsi's call for dialogue but regrets that tensions haven't subsided due to the president's decrees giving him almost absolute power and advancing an Islamist-friendly constitution to a referendum on Dec. 15. Egypt's opposition forces have staged mass demonstrations and clashed with Morsi's backers from the Muslim Brotherhood, resulting in six people killed and at least 700 injured. Pillay said in a statement Friday that the draft constitution contains ``some very worrying omissions and ambiguities, and in some areas the protections in it are even weaker than the 1971 constitution it is supposed to replace.''