CAIRO: Three judges who were referred to investigations at the Ministry of Justice earlier this week for criticizing the trials of civilians in military courts on TV are set to file a lawsuit against the minister, Abdel Aziz Al-Gendy.
Chancellors Hassan Al-Naggar, head of Zagazig Judges Club, Alaa Shawky, head of Giza Criminal Court, and Ashraf Nada, head of Beni Suef Cassation Court, were interrogated at the Judiciary Inspection Department earlier this week for not having permission to give media statements.
"We didn’t attack anyone, we just compared between civil judiciary and military judiciary and we said what we think is right. How can this happen after Jan. 25?" Shawky told Daily News Egypt.
The three judges appeared on Al-Jazeera Mubasher Masr satellite channel to talk about cleansing the judiciary and criticized referring civilians to military courts, which the military prosecutor considered an "offence" to military judiciary in a memorandum presented to Al-Gendy.
The military prosecutor said that he received an apology from Ahmed Al-Zend, head of the Judges Club, for what the three judges said.
Al-Gendy then decided to refer the three judges to interrogations at the ministry’s Judiciary Inspection Department.
Shawky criticized the way they were called for interrogations and the "clout" of the judiciary inspection saying that it can’t hold a judge accountable after he became a chancellor as long as he wasn’t implicated in corruption crimes.
"We refuse any mandate on judges. And Al-Zend’s apology is rejected, because he doesn’t represent me and I didn’t commit any wrong and when I do, I will apologize in public," he said.
The memorandum said that the judges’ statements "disturbed public peace and security."
Shawky said that the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawy’s decision to reconsider the trial of 57 people proved that the trial wasn’t fair, and that it is an exceptional form of judiciary. A court ruling can only be challenged in front of a higher court that studies the case and accepts or refuses the challenge and not through an order from an official, he added.
However, Shawky said that in the current "exceptional" circumstances military judiciary is needed because it has the power of deterrence, at a time when judges are being attacked in courts when their rulings are not approved, but this should end when such conditions cease.
"It isn’t appropriate for a judge to be interrogated for something he said. He isn’t allowed to participate in politics but this doesn’t prevent him from expressing his views like any other citizen," said Ashraf Elewa, board member of the Judges Club and of the independence of the judiciary stream.
"Al-Zend should have defended the judges; he isn’t entitled to apologize on their behalf," Elewa said.
Other board members of the Judges Club said that the three judges only represent themselves and that they aren’t authorized to give media statements without a permission of the Supreme Judiciary Council.
A general assembly is set to take place at Zagazig Judges Club Friday to discuss the issue.
Elewa said that the general assembly of the Zagazig Judges Club is only for reelecting a new board and any decision relating to the case can only be taken by the Cairo Judges Club.
