CAIRO: Pro-reform judges staged a protest Wednesday in support of two colleagues who face disciplinary action after accusing the judiciary of helping to rig parliamentary polls. The two judges have been summoned to a disciplinary hearing over charges they tarnished the judiciary s image by implicating pro-government colleagues in alleged vote fraud in the 2005 election that saw the ruling party retain a firm group on power. Pro-reform judges, who have emerged as one of Egypt s most potent voices calling for democratic change, are to hold an emergency meeting of their syndicate on April 27 to coincide with Mahmud Mekki and Hisham Al-Bastawissi s hearing. Mekky and Bastawisi, who are both deputy presidents of the Court of Cassation, have been in the forefront of the campaign for judicial independence from the ministry of justice. The campaign, backed by several thousand of the country s judges, gained ground last year during preparations for presidential and parliamentary elections, which are supposed to take place under full judicial supervision.
At public meetings and in reports by the independent Judges Club, many judges said electoral fraud was commonplace. Earlier this month the Judges Club bowed to government pressure and pulled out of a meeting with a senior delegation from the New York-based group Human Rights Watch, which wanted to talk about judicial independence.
The independent daily Al Masry Al Youm said on Monday the decision to send the judges to the disciplinary committee could be the prelude to a mass dismissal of judges. In parliament on Monday, speaker Fathi Sorour prevented a debate on the judges on the grounds the judiciary was independent and parliament could not interfere in its affairs. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group in parliament, and other opposition groups protested at Sorour s decision but he insisted, threatening to throw out anyone who challenged it. It is not permitted to talk about the judiciary in the chamber … Don t force me to take a decision to expel you from the chamber, the speaker said.
About 35 judges spent the night at the syndicate offices, with protest leaders expecting the number to increase in the days leading up to the hearing. The head of the 8,000-strong syndicate, Zakaria Abdul Aziz, said the protest would continue indefinitely. The judges have also invited human rights and pro-democracy activists to participate as a sign of solidarity. Agencies
