CAIRO: One judge was wounded and 15 activists were detained Monday when police broke up a protest in support of judges calling for reforms, a security official and witnesses said. Fifteen people were detained in the early hours of Monday outside the judges’ syndicate in Cairo, the official said on condition of anonymity. Plainclothed security tried to remove us by force, said Salma Said, one of the 40 protesters and a member the pro-reform Youth for Change movement They beat some of the protesters up and when judge Mahmud Hamza came down to defend us, he was beaten up too, she told AFP. The judge was hospitalized but his condition was not thought to be serious. Pro-reform judges started a sit-in on April 19, to support two colleagues, who face disciplinary action after alleging the judiciary helped rig the 2005 parliamentary polls that saw the ruling party retain a firm grip on power. Mahmud Hamza is the price the judges are paying for their independence, said Nagui Derbala, a judge at the scene. It is a message from a security service that does not respect the law. Every day there is more proof that there is no independence of the judiciary, he told AFP. The judges syndicate, which has become one of the most potent symbols of calls for change and reform in Egypt, has campaigned relentlessly over the past year to demand more independence from the executive branch. We will carry on with our demands as long as we live, said Derbala. We will insist on an independent judiciary. In an interview published Monday in the Egyptian daily Al-Gomhuriya, President Hosni Mubarak denied any attempt by his government to intervene in the judiciary system. I will not intervene between judges out of respect for the judiciary s independence and esteem for its judges, he said.
Meanwhile, opposition activists protested Friday in solidarity with two Egyptian reformist judges slated to go before a disciplinary board next week.
Judge Hisham El-Bastawisy, a deputy head of the Court of Cassation, the country s highest appellate court, said he and his colleague Mahmoud Mekki were to go before a hearing Thursday for speaking to the media about their suspicions of fraud during last year s parliamentary elections.
About 300 people gathered outside the judges professional association in downtown Cairo where jurists had entered a third day of sit-in protest in support of the embattled judges.
The Kefaya, (Enough), movement pitched a tent in front of the Judges Club and activists said they intended to camp out as part of an extended protest. The group has called for Egyptians to demonstrate in support of the judges during their hearing Thursday, said one of its leaders Abdel-Halim Qandil.
Reformist judges had requested that the judiciary supervise last year s parliamentary elections, which were marred by police intimidation, riots and allegations of ballot stuffing.
Egyptian judges have called for full independence of the judiciary for the past two decades.
El-Bastawisy said the judges will continue to press for reform until the government meets what he called the people s demands.
If the government is concerned about the people, stability and security of this nation, it will respond soon, he said in a telephone interview. Agencies
