Can the new judicial law square the circle between the Judges' Club and the Supreme Judicial Council, asks Gamal Essam El-Din While Nagi Derballah, deputy chairman of the Judges' Club, welcomed the results of the disciplinary hearings against Court of Cassation judges Mahmoud Mekki and Hisham El-Bastawisi, he stressed that the case was simply one skirmish in an ongoing battle. On 18 May the disciplinary tribunal found Mekki had no charges to answer, while El-Bastawisi received a written reprimand, the least serious of the array of measures that could have been taken against him. The case of the two judges, said Derballah, had "served to alert the attention of the outside world to the urgent need for political reform and judicial independence within Egypt and demonstrated the growing role of civil society organisations vis-à-vis the government". Skirmish over, the Judges' Club now intends to put its weight behind the promulgation of two laws, one guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary and the second the integrity of elections. Regarding the first law, Derballah said the Judges' Club had recently presented People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour with its own draft legislation governing the performance of the judicial authority. It had also invited opposition, independent and ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs to the club to listen to its views about what the judicial authority law should contain. The Judges' Club draft, he said, differs from proposals made by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in that it seeks to ensure complete budgetary and supervisory independence from the Ministry of Justice. Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abul-Leil has dismissed suggestions the ministry had prepared alternative legislation of its own. He said the committee charged with overseeing the new judicial authority law would meet soon to review the final draft that will be submitted to the People's Assembly. The committee's members include Abul-Leil and the chairman and secretary-general of the Judges Club. Abul-Leil, did, however, say that under the constitution the SJC is entitled to review the new judicial authority law before it is submitted to either the cabinet or the People's Assembly. Following Abul-Leil's statement the Judges' Club cancelled a meeting it had intended to organise at its downtown headquarters on Sunday, amid reports that Abul-Leil had phoned Zakaria Abdel-Aziz, chairman of the Judges' Club, urging him to delay the meeting in order to explore the possibility of reaching common ground with the SJC over the law. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Moufid Shehab said on Saturday that the new judicial authority law was ready. Shehab's announcement followed a meeting attended by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, National Democratic Party Secretary- General Safwat El-Sherif, Abul-Leil and Gamal Mubarak, President Hosni Mubarak's 42-year- old son and chairman of the NDP Policies Committee. Shehab said the law had adopted many of the amendments contained in the Judges' Club own draft legislation. "All of its recommendations," said Shehab, "aim to secure maximum independence for the judiciary," though he went on to suggest that the law would attempt to balance the competing demands of the Judges' Club and the SJC. Reports suggest the new law will accede to judges' demands that the statutory retirement age of judges not exceed 68, rather than 70 as the SJC wants. It is also said to include provisions for budgetary independence and restrict the Justice Ministry from interfering in the internal affairs of the judiciary. "Our law reflects the demands of the 8000- member general assembly of the Judges' Club," said Derballah. "If it is found that the draft law was changed by the SJC, the club will call for an urgent general assembly meeting." While the Judges' Club law was drafted so as to guarantee complete judicial independence from the executive, said Derballah, that independence is not viewed as a goal in and of itself but rather as "a point on the road to achieving political reform". A major point of contention between the Judges' Club and the SJC focuses on the way members of the latter are currently subject to government appointment. The Judges' Club wants the chairmen of the Court of Cassation and the Cairo Appeal Courts --ex officio members of the SJC ---- to be elected by the divisions they head. "The election of judges is not new in Egypt," said Abdel-Aziz, pointing out that under British occupation the chairman of the Court of Cassation was elected. "This guaranteed an independent judiciary during the occupation and it is high time that independence was restored." Derballah also said the Judges' Club will exert pressure for a radical overhaul of the 50- year-old law governing the exercise of political rights (Law 73/1956). "This law was amended last year but in a way that created an electoral supervision committee that lacked teeth. The committee is headed by the justice minister and includes members from the Interior Ministry when what is needed, to ensure free elections, if for the committee to be controlled by independent judges." (see p.3)
