A human rights report criticized the fact that the judiciary and the judges in Egypt are subject to control attempts by the executive branch, which resulted in serious violations of the independence of the judiciary and in abuse of the judicial institutions. The report also criticized the attack on the ‘natural' judiciary, as represented in the Constitutional Court, the State Council and the ordinary courts, which is in itself a violation of the independence of the judiciary. It said the government's attempts to control the judiciary caused a breach of the rights and freedoms of citizens, which had a very bad impact on the judges themselves and on justice in general, with its 4 axes, namely the Administrative Court, the Constitutional Court, the ordinary courts and the Judges Club.
The report, which was issued by the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession under the title of ‘The government and the Judges in Egypt: An 8-Year Attack', monitored various violations of the independence of the judiciary in order to remedy them through some legislation that must be amended, or through practices and behaviors that must be stopped, or even criminalized, with their perpetrators brought to account. The most notable violations are the executive branch controlling the judiciary and the judges, the exclusion of ‘natural' justice by referring citizens to special courts, the tampering with the Egyptian Constitution, the disrespect for the rights and guarantees of civil liberties, and the ‘constitutonalization' of special court rulings. The report said that the attack on the Constitutional Court is manifested in its retreated and reduced role in protecting rights and freedoms, as the executive branch insisted on appointing the heads of the court from outside the general assembly. It also said that the attack on the administrative justice is manifested in disrespecting judicial rulings, using legal stratagems to obstruct their implementation, daring to reject rationales of rulings, reducing the jurisdiction of the State Council and its role in the protection of rights and freedoms, and in the crude intervention of the Minister of Justice through a strange and extraordinary formation of some public figures that are chosen by the minister for the First Constituency of the Supreme Administrative Court. It said that the attack on the ordinary courts is manifested in disrespecting the competence of natural justice, consolidating military and special courts, continuing the dominance of the Minister of Justice on the judiciary and the judges, breaching by the executive branch of the foundations of the Egyptian judicial system that were established since 1882 through attempts to establish judicial entities that are not constitutional or legal, and in the Egyptian Minister of Justice continuously insulting the judges and defaming their image. The attack on the Judges Club is manifested in its unprecedented activity that led to violent reactions by the government against it, to the extent of physically assaulting the judges and waiving their right to physical safety, and in the Ministry of Justice reducing the role of the Judges Club and its affiliates in the provinces by imposing a financial blockade on them. It is also manifested in using the media to attack the Judges Club Board Members, threatening the judges of judicial and administrative prosecution by the Supreme Judicial Council, preventing them from exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression, disdaining the judges and their immunity to the extent of physical assault, and waving their right to fair and equitable trials. The report stressed the need to reconsider the constitutional provisions relating to rights and freedoms, and the need to amend articles 76, 77, 88 and 179 in form, so as to maintain the prestige of the constitutional texts, and in content, so as to ensure personal rights and freedoms. It also called for the purification of the constitutional texts that give the special courts a judiciary status and that allow the trial of civilians before military courts. Moreover, it called for the judiciary to have adjudication over all issues of judicial nature within its competence. It also called for reconsideration of the constitutional provisions regulating the power of the judicial system to be in conformity with the international standards of judicial independence. For his part, Nasser Amin, Director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, said: “The report monitored a decline in justice, in a serious precedent in the history of the Egyptian judiciary,” noting that about 95% of the provisions of the Administrative Judicial Court has not been implemented, which has eliminated the capacity of the government being an ‘honorable' adversary, and caused the citizens to disrespect the judiciary.
