Khaled Youssef Selected for 50-Member Constitution Committee

Yesterday, presidential spokesman Badawi announced the names of the 50-member committee charged with amending the 2012 constitution. One of the fifty chosen was director Khaled Yousef, who was an outspoken critic of the Islamist-formed before its dissolution.

Starkly distinct from the previous Islamist-dominated assembly, the new assembly is relatively heavy in artists and writers. It includes poet Sayyed Hegab, head of the High Council for Culture, Mohamed Abla, a prominent painter representing the fine arts sector, and Mohamed Salmawy, h ead of Egypt's Writers Union.

Head of the Actors Syndicate Ashraf Abdel Ghafour was selected in last year's constituent assembly, but withdrew from the committee, like many of its liberally-minded members, "as a result of the disarray in the general political climate and the unsafe environment in the country," he said in a statement in late March 2012.