Saad El-Katatni

Saad El-Katatni
Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 October 2012
Preceded by	Mohamed Morsi
Speaker of the People's Assembly
In office 23 January 2012 – 22 September 2012
Preceded by	Ahmad Fathi Sorour*
Succeeded by	Ali Abdel Aal**
Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice Party
In office 30 April 2011 – 22 January 2012
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	Mohamed Saad Tawfik El-Katatni 3 April 1952 Girga, Egypt
Political party	Freedom and Justice Party
Alma mater	Minya University
Profession	Academic
Religion	Islam
* Office vacant from 13 February 2011 to 23 January 2012 ** Office vacant from 22 September 2012 to 10 January 2016

Mohamed Saad Tawfik El-Katatni (Arabic: محمد سعد توفيق الكتاتني‎‎, alternatively spelled El-Katatny or Al-Katatni; born 3 April 1952) is an Egyptian Islamist politician who has been the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) since October 2012.^[1] From January 2012 until its dissolution in September he was the first Speaker of the People's Assembly after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.^[2] Prior to this, he served as the first secretary-general of the FJP^[3][4] and was a member of the Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Early life and education

El-Katatni was born on 3 April 1952. He completed his undergraduate studies of botany at the Assiut University with a B.Sc. degree in 1974. After one year of military conscription, he continued his studies, specialising in microbiology and taking his master's degree in 1979. After four more years of study at the Minya University, concurrently with the work as an assistant lecturer, he was conferred a doctorate in microbiology (physiological plant pathology). Subsequently, he worked as a lecturer at the same university. In 1991 he was promoted to become associate professor. In 2004, he got a full professorship.^[5]

Political career

From 2005 to 2010, El-Katatni led the parliamentary bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood. Later, he served on the guidance bureau of the group. When the Muslim Brotherhood founded the Freedom and Justice Party on 30 April 2011, El-Katatni was chosen as the secretary-general of the party. Therefore, he retired from the guidance bureau.^[6]

On 22 January 2012, he resigned as FJP secretary to become elected as the Speaker of the People's Assembly of Egypt the next day. He received 399 votes, 80 percent of the 498 votes cast.^[7]

On 19 October 2012, the FJP selected him to serve as the party's chairman. At the time, the FJP is Egypt’s largest political party and controls 47% of Egypt's lower house of parliament's seats.^[1]

Political views

After he was selected as the FJP's party's chairman, Katatni expressed his desire to implement Islamic Sharia law in Egypt, saying that the FJP was established by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to represent the Brotherhood's "political project, which, in the end, will be a wise government that will institute Islamic Shari’a law." Katani declared his election as the first step toward achieving the FJP's goals.^[8]

Arrest

In the aftermath of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, El-Katatni was arrested on 4 July 2013.^[9] Egyptian prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen on 14 July 2013.^[10] On 29 October 2013, a three-judge panel at Cairo Criminal Court stepped down from the proceedings, citing "uneasiness" over the trial.^[11] On 11 December 2013, a second panel of judges withdrew from the trial.^[12]

References

1. "Egypt's El-Katatni becomes new head of Muslim Brotherhood's FJP". Ahram Online. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
2. "ط§ظ„ظƒطھط§طھظ†ظ‰ ط±ط¦ظٹط³ط§ ظ„ط¨ط±ظ„ظ…ط§ظ† ط§ظ„ط«ظˆط±ط© ط¨ظ€ 399 طµظˆطھط§ظ‹". Ahram. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
3. 11 May 2011
4. Egypt assembly picks Islamist speaker Reuters
5. Curriculum Vitae, Minya University, Retrieved 15 February 2012
6. "Saad al-Katatni", Guide to Egypt's Transition, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, retrieved 15 February 2012
7. Souaiaia, Ahmed. "Egypt and the Islamists". Foreign Policy in Focus. Foreign Policy in Focus. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
8. "New FJP leader in Egypt calls for Sharia law". The Jerusalem Post. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
9. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/75649/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-arrests-leading-Brotherhood-members,-includi.aspx
10. "Asset freeze for Islamist leaders goes into action". Egypt Independent. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
11. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/29/judges-in-egyptianbrotherhoodtrialquit.html
12. Second judging panel withdraws from Brotherhood trial Ahram Online. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.