Judges in revolt THE CAIRO Judges Club decided, on Sunday, to hold an emergency general assembly on 13 May to decide whether or not they will supervise the coming parliamentary and presidential elections, reports Mona El- Nahhas. Two weeks ago, during a stormy general assembly at the headquarters of the Alexandria Judges Club, hundreds of judges threatened to abstain from supervising this year's elections unless they were given full control over every stage of the poll. They also called upon the state to endorse their proposed amendments to the current judiciary authority law, which they said undermines their independence. The government seems to have turned a deaf ear to the judges' demands. This week, the Justice Ministry said studying the amendments will take time, and that the new draft may not be endorsed during the current parliamentary session, scheduled to end in June. Meanwhile, amidst rumours that the ministry intends to put together another draft, meant to replace the one submitted by the judges, independent MP Abdel-Moneim El- Eleimi actually submitted another draft to the People's Assembly this week. Abdel-Moneim said 80 per cent of the articles in his and the judges' drafts were in concord. Judges reacted to these events with a firm statement in support of their own draft. They cautioned against introducing any changes to their draft, and accused the ministry of "inciting sedition among judges". This latter charge was also in response to the ministry's recent moves to avoid a possible constitutional crisis that would delay elections. Worried that the judges will carry out their threat and boycott the elections, the ministry has been asking heads of courts to put together lists of judges who are willing to participate in supervising the elections, even promising to offer these judges bonuses. Tenants, landlords and the police THE INVESTIGATIONS into the deadly land dispute that took place in Surad, a village in northern Egypt's Gharbiya governorate, are still underway, Yasmine Fathi reports. The spar erupted early Wednesday 13 April when brothers Mustafa and Hisham Hammam, attempting to regain control of their land, clashed with tenant farmers. The resulting melee left four dead. According to defence lawyer Atef Abdel-Wahab, several suspects are still in custody, and will remain there until next Saturday, when they will return to court. Abdel- Wahab said the court would probably keep the defendants in custody for another 15 days until "all investigations are done and a final court hearing is scheduled". The dispute began when the Hammam brothers got a court ruling on 24 March upholding their right to regain possession of their 23 acres in Surad. Sisters Um Mohamed, Maany, and Hamdiya El-Balzeeki had been renting the land. On 13 April, the brothers showed up in Surad with 11 hired farmers from Manfalout village in the southern governorate of Assiut, where they reside. Villagers immediately decided that the entourage's arrival was a threat, and apparently began attacking the brothers, which led to gunfire that killed villager Nadia El-Babli. Her death then catalysed a pitched battle that ended with the deaths of the Hammam brothers and Farahat Youssef, one of their employees. Fifty farmers from Surad, and the 11 farmers hired by the brothers, were soon arrested. According to a second defence lawyer, who wished to remain anonymous, 13 Surad residents, and the 11 Manfalout farmers remain in custody. The prosecutor's office has also demanded testimonies from the three sisters, as well as witnesses brought by the defendants. "Several defendants are turning to witnesses to prove that they were not there during the dispute," the lawyer said. "Some of them were out of town, and one has documents proving he was installing his telephone at the time." According to Maha Youssef, a lawyer at the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (HMLC), one of the arrested farmers -- who had been shot in the hand -- was left without medical attention for eight days while in custody. "His whole body was swollen, and we don't know whether or not he will survive." She said a complaint would be sent to the prosecutor-general concerning the case. Lawyer Safwat Abdel-Mohsen said the police officer who oversaw the arrests would also be interrogated this week. "Most of the evidence shows that the defendants were picked up randomly," he said. The officer will need to "present the grounds on which he arrested them". Forbidden pilgrimage DEFYING a ban issued by Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, a group of 37 Coptic Christians journeyed to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage last Friday. The pilgrims left Cairo after they were cleared by Egyptian security. The Pope issued the ban on Copts travelling to Israel pending a just solution to the Palestinian problem. In the past, he has advised religious leaders in Palestine not to give Holy Communion to Copts for challenging his authority, and has also threatened to excommunicate members who challenge the ban. Copts traditionally go on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem each spring, and remain there until after Coptic Orthodox Easter, which this year falls on 1 May. Women of Al-Arish "NO CONSTITUTIONAL reform without freedom... No freedom under the emergency law" was the chant of 100 women who marched down a main street in Al-Arish on Monday, demanding reform and the release of their relatives who have been detained by the police without charge since the October attacks in Sinai. The women are part of a group that has been organising weekly protests in support of their detained relatives. After the march, the women held a meeting at the Arish office of the opposition Tagammu Party, where members of the Kefaya (Enough) movement and representatives of different human rights and advocacy groups were also in attendance. The government has released some of the detainees, but has not disclosed the exact number of people who were arrested or published their names. According to Human Rights Watch and Egyptian human rights groups, that figure could be as high as 2,400. African follow-up FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit met his counterpart from Niger on Tuesday. The meeting between Abul- Gheit and Aichatou Mindaoudou, Niger's minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, centred on the benefits of better bilateral and continental relations, reports Magda El-Ghitany. Mindaoudou lauded the "pivotal role" Egypt plays in implementing the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiative; "Egypt has [extensive] experience in various fields [like] health, industry, technology, agriculture and education. Such expertise may contribute to the development of Niger," Mindaoudou told reporters following the talks. As for the African continent, both nations stressed their intentions to work together to "strengthen peace and security, as well as to boost the economic, social, and humanitarian development" of Africa. The two officials also expressed their support for efforts that had been exerted towards reforming the UN. "We had a long talk regarding the possibility of expanding the UN Security Council, as well as the overall process of reforming the UN," the ministers said.
