CAIRO: The procedures to appoint female judges (2008 and 2009 graduates) who successfully applied for a seat in the State Council, will continue, announced Mohamed El-Husseini, head of Egypt’s State Council at a press conference Tuesday, according to official news portal egynews.net.
The State Council, established in 1946, hears cases brought by individuals against the state.
The Special Council, a body that oversees the State Council, will examine the applications before a presidential decree to appoint the female judges is issued, added El-Husseini, explaining the standard procedure in such cases.
The Special Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the State Council’s general assembly’s decision to bar women from joining it.
Last Monday, 380 judges took part in a general assembly vote, with 334 rejecting the appointment of females in judicial posts in the State Council, 42 accepting the motion and four abstaining.
The decision, which sparked controversy and was slammed by human rights activists, can still be overruled by the Special Council.
When the seven-member Special Council voted on the issue, four rejected the appointment of female judges while three accepted it. But despite the majority’s rejection, El-Husseini said that public interest dictates that procedures to appoint female judges in the State Council will continue.
He explained that the Supreme Judicial Council had previously ruled that females can hold diverse judicial posts.
Furthermore, said El-Husseini, those who voted against the decision, have no legislative basis, adding that nothing in the Egyptian constitution or in Islamic law prevents a woman from occupying an administrative judicial post, and that women are employed in high ranking judicial positions in Gulf States.
Last August the State Council had announced that it will employ female law graduates within its ranks for the first time.
