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.''