The Cairo Judges' Club is to sue the minister of justice, reports Mona El-Nahhas During a meeting held on Sunday the Cairo Judges' Club decided to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice. The decision comes in response to the ministry's suspension of all financial aid to judges' clubs. In the lawsuit the club is petitioning to have two funds, covering social and health care, currently affiliated to the Justice Ministry, placed under the direct control of the Supreme Judiciary Council. Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marie has been quoted as saying that there is no legal obligation for the ministry to provide judges' clubs with a subsidy. Judges, meanwhile, say that Marie is withholding the subsidy in an attempt to force their clubs to back down over demands for reform. During the Cairo Judges' Club's general assembly last month it was decided that the monthly subscription club members pay should be increased to LE20 in an attempt to ride out the financial crisis provoked by the withholding of ministry funds. Club Chairman Zakareya Abdel-Aziz sent letters to the heads of first degree and appeal courts, as well as the chief justice of the Court of Cassation, asking them to deduct the LE20 from judges' salaries beginning next month. Some state- appointed heads of first degree courts refused to implement the request, leading to the filing of the law suit. Legal expert Mohamed Selim El-Awwa was commissioned by the club's board members to prepare the lawsuit. The Cairo Judges' Club is not alone in taking legal action against the Ministry of Justice. The State Council Judges' Club -- which until now has distanced itself from the ongoing conflict between the state and reformist judges -- met earlier this week to consider filing a suit against the minister. A final decision on the matter will be made during the club's general assembly, scheduled for 19 January. The State Council Judges' Club has made it clear that it will not take such action in pursuit of reform but because of financial reasons. In a related development, seen as an attempt to further pressure judges' clubs, officials from the Central Auditing Agency (CAA) have been dispatched to examine the annual budgets of clubs since 2001. Abdel-Aziz said he welcomed the audit, stressing that the Judges' Club has nothing to hide and suggesting that the auditors remit be extended to include the club's budgets since 1991. He also urged chairmen of judges clubs in other governorates to cooperate with the auditors. Initially judges' clubs in Fayoum, Beni Sueif and Suez had resisted the idea of the audit, saying it was a flagrant intervention in their internal affairs. Cairo Judges' Club Secretary-General Hesham Geneina this week met with a three-member committee from the CAA and promised to provide them with all the documents they need. CAA officials, though, allege the club is being uncooperative. "They are trying to give the impression that judges' clubs do not cooperate with them and that they have financial matters they are trying to hide, allegations that could later be used to place the clubs under sequestration and dissolve their legitimately-elected councils," says judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri. During Sunday's meeting the club board stressed that their position towards the issue of the judicial supervision of elections remained unchanged. Judges, they said, would boycott all supervision should the government attempt to restrict their supervisory role to the main polling stations. People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour said last week that he supports the setting up of a higher electoral committee, including some former judges, that will be charged with overseeing future polls. Sorour suggested that the direct supervision of ballots by judges could compromise their prestige. During last year's elections cases were reported of judges being insulted, and even beaten, while attempting to exercise their duties at polling stations. Sorour's statements appeared to confirm leaks that the government intends to amend Article 88 of the constitution which enshrines full judicial supervision of elections. The goal of any amendment, say judges, will be to make it easier to rig elections. Abdel-Aziz says judges are now waiting for President Mubarak to announce the details of coming constitutional amendments. "We will then study them and declare our position, for such amendments concern the whole nation," he said.
