Judges met to decide whether to support or rally against Egypt's Judges Club, reports Mona El-Nahhas The chairmen of 13 branches of judges clubs in the provinces met at the Cairo Upper Judiciary House on Sunday to determine where they stand vis-à-vis the mother club, Egypt's Judges Club. Pro-government Judge Rifaat El-Sayed, chairman of the Assiut Judges Club, called for the meeting, reportedly hoping that the assembled chairmen would rebel against the Egypt Judges Club which has been leading calls by judges for reform and independence. El-Sayed has criticised board members of both the Egypt and Alexandria judges clubs for clashing with the state in a way which, he said, harmed judges' interests. Quoted by the press, he charged that board members of the two clubs had become infiltrated by an illegal political group, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood. Ahead of last Sunday's meeting, El-Sayed had planned to obtain the approval of the chairmen of the branch clubs to form a council for such clubs, hoping to marginalise the role of the Cairo mother club. In a working paper presented to the participants, El-Sayed said that defending the rights of judges should not be limited to Egypt Judges Club, which he calls Cairo Judges Club, in an attempt to equate it with the other branch clubs. However, the chairmen, with the exception of El-Sayed and the chairman of Minya Judges Club, issued a statement stressing their loyalty and affiliation to the Egypt Judges Club. El-Sayed, chairman of an appeals court, stands to benefit from the recent amendment of the judiciary law which raised the retirement age of judges from 68 to 70. He stands in favour of the amendment, repeating the state mantra that the change aims at garnering the greatest experience possible from veteran judges. The amendment received the parliament's final approval on Monday, after 248 MPs belonging to the ruling NDP voted for it. Voting against were independent and opposition parliamentary members. The amendment was strongly opposed by judges on the grounds that it was tailored to allow dozens of pro-government judges who had neared retirement age to remain in powerful positions, while at the same time preventing the younger generation of reformist judges from occupying high-ranking posts. They said benefits would not be accrued as long as judges continued to seize administrative posts. "If it really is a matter of experience, then let them hear thousands of the accumulated lawsuits rather than occupy administrative posts", said Judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri, chairman of the Alexandria Judges Club. During a heated general assembly held by the Judges Club in 2005, 3,706 judges voted against extending the age of retirement to 70, while 522 voted for its extension. Talking to Al-Ahram Weekly about last Sunday's meeting, veteran Judge Ahmed Mekki viewed it as a complete failure. He downplayed its importance, alleging that it aimed to undermine the Cairo club. "The number of members in Assiut club does not exceed 150 judges, while the Alexandria Judges Club has a membership of 1,500," said Mekki. Mekki said that branches of judges clubs in the provinces, with the exception of Alexandria, were set up in 1980 by a ministerial decree. He claimed that this step aimed to create an entity that would clash with the mother club. "Branch clubs continue to play the role the state defined for them," added Mekki. In 2005, prior to the presidential and parliamentary polls, the chairmen of some of the branch clubs announced their unconditional readiness to supervise the elections, at a time when the Cairo club made judiciary supervision conditional upon free and fair polls. Mekki expected that members of the judges clubs in Minya and Assiut would soon withdraw confidence from their two chairmen "who are attempting to sow the seeds of discord among judges."
