In the wake of the decision to allow the six US nationals accused of working in Egypt illegally to leave the country, Egypt's judges are protesting against alleged political interference, reports Mona El-Nahhas Egypt's appeals court judges are due to hold an emergency general meeting today, in order to discuss proposals to strip court chairman Abdel-Moez Ibrahim of office after he was alleged to have interfered in a case before the courts and allowed six US detainees to leave Egypt on 29 February following a still- mysterious judicial ruling. The appeals court judges have collected the signatures of some 285 judges, necessary to attain the quorum required to hold the assembly meeting. Ibrahim, who returned to Egypt on Sunday after a visit to Kenya, is also expected to attend the assembly. Insisting that the judiciary should not be subject to political interference, the judges are thought to be planning to set up a special committee to run appeals court affairs and to remove Ibrahim from office. The committee, including three senior appeals court judges as members, will take over from Ibrahim until 30 June, the day on which he reaches retirement age. According to the judges, Ibrahim's ruling that allowed the US detainees to leave the country was issued under political pressure and on the instructions of the Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC). Besides chairing the appeals court, Ibrahim also headed the higher judicial commission that supervised the 2011 and 2012 parliamentary elections. He is a leading member of the higher judicial commission assigned to supervise the upcoming presidential elections. Last Friday, dozens of Alexandria Judges Club members organised a symbolic protest in the city to condemn interference in their work and to press for a new judiciary law before the upcoming presidential polls. The protesting judges issued a statement in which they called upon the justice minister to start an immediate investigation into the "unprecedented case" of Ibrahim's ruling, which they said had tarnished the image of the judiciary. Further protests are due in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo tomorrow, with demonstrators expected to press for a purge of the judiciary and the early issuance of a new judiciary law. A number of political activists and prominent judges, including Zakaria Abdel-Aziz, former chairman of the Cairo Judges Club, are expected to join tomorrow's protest. Under the current judiciary law, which judges view as impeding their independence, the justice minister is the only person entitled to investigate judges' decisions. As a result, the Supreme Judiciary Council plays only a subsidiary role in any disciplinary actions, merely authorising the investigation of any judge suspected of malpractice. Justice Minister Adel Abdel-Hamid has already assigned a judge to conduct an investigation into the ruling issued by Ibrahim, and this is now before the Cairo Criminal Court. According to judge Ahmed Mekki, Ibrahim is accused of putting pressure on another judge to issue the ruling, potentially breaking articles 105 and 120 of the penal code. Ibrahim is said to have put pressure on the panel of judges hearing the original case into the funding of foreign NGOs, asking it to lift the travel ban against the 16 Americans who were the main defendants in the case. The panel, headed by judge Mohamed Shukri, decided to abandon the case, and Ibrahim then allegedly assigned three judges from the technical bureau of the appeals court to look into a request filed by the American defendants' lawyer, asking for the travel ban against them to be lifted. Within a few hours of Ibrahim's action, the travel ban had been lifted and the Americans left Egypt. The Cairo Criminal Court is now examining the case papers, including allegations against Ibrahim and a memorandum written by Shukri in which he gave the reasons for his withdrawal from the case. The court is also looking into the statement issued on 6 March by judge Magdi Abdel-Bari, who lifted the travel ban against the Americans, citing legal grounds issued by the court. Last December, the security services raided the offices of a number of human rights organisations in Egypt and arrested dozens of activists. Forty-three activists, 16 of whom were Americans, were accused of illegally using foreign funds to stir up unrest in Egypt and of working without a licence. The raided organisations included four American ones, including the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and a group that trains journalists. The arrest of the Americans caused tension in Egyptian diplomatic relations with the US, with some US officials threatening to cut off the $1.3 billion in military aid Egypt receives annually from America.
