CAIRO: A lobby group launched on Wednesday the "Yes to the Independence of the Judiciary" campaign to support a draft law prepared by reformist judge Ahmed Mekky. "We launched this campaign out of our sincere belief that independence of the judiciary is not an issue specific to judges only, but it is a public demand of all Egyptians," campaign member Mohammed Effat said at a press conference held at the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) Wednesday The head of the Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC), Justice Hossam Al-Gheryany, formed a committee headed by Mekky to prepare amendments to the judicial authority law, which was the subject of disagreements between judges, especially inside the Judges Club that rejected Mekky's appointment. Mekky is the former head of the Alexandria Cassation Court. The Judges' Club, headed by Justice Ahmed Al-Zend, announced earlier its own draft amendments to the same law. "With these amendments we wanted to highlight the Club's role as the guarantor and protector of judges' rights, a right that we shouldn't give up especially that we weren't represented at the SJC's committee," Al-Zend said earlier this month. The changes proposed by Mekky's committee include limiting the number of years that judges can spend outside Egypt on loan to six years once during their time in service; appointing the deputy heads of the Court of Cassation through direct elections rather than through seniority; and banning the appointment of judges in government or legislative posts to prevent any influence on judges from the executive authority. The committee is also studying suggestions to bring the judiciary inspection body under the authority of the SJC rather than the Ministry of Justice; giving the SJC, not the president, the power to appoint the Prosecutor General and stipulating that he be a career judge; canceling the state security prosecution altogether and appointing new judges based on the results of written examinations to avoid favoritism. "Furthermore, the suggested amendments stipulate that the prosecutor general shall be elected instead of being appointed by the government, and obliges the prosecution to inspect prisons and police stations," Effat added, describing these amendments as touching the lives of all Egyptians. "It is very important to make the public aware of all these efforts to guarantee the independence of the judiciary," said campaign member Amina Khayrat. "That's why we outlined the most important 10 points in Mekky's amendments and put them together in what we called the ‘Judiciary Independence Document'," she added. The campaign started on the internet last month by calling upon bloggers to blog on Aug. 27 in support of Mekky's amendments to draw the attention of political activists and politicians to the importance of the issue. The campaign also organized a march attended by thousands from Tahrir Square to the High Court on Sept. 9 to support Mekky's draft law to coincide with the Judge's Club's General Assembly meeting to amend the rival draft by Al-Zend. The document was signed by many presidential candidates including Amr Moussa, Abdel-Moniem Aboul Fotouh, Bouthaina Kamel, Mohamed Selim El-Awa, Hazem Salah Abo Ismail, Hisham El-Bastawisi, Ayman Nour and Hamdeen Sabahi. The document was also signed by political parties and movements, including El-Adl, Free Egyptians, Al-Wasat, the Democratic Front and the Egyptian Socialist Parties, and the April 6 Youth Movement, No to Military Trials campaign and Youth for Justice and Freedom, among others. "We plan to gather public signatures on the document,” said campaign member Ahmed Abdallah, noting that conferences will also be held to raise public awareness about the cause. "We hope that these efforts will pressure the ruling military council to agree on Mekky's amendments before the start of the parliamentary elections," he added. Effat explained that the group favored Mekky's amendments due to his long struggle since 1986 for the independence of the judiciary. "Mekky was appointed by SJC to prepare the amendments, and Al-Zend's amendments empty Mekky's draft of its content," Effat said.
