Egypt's judges have called on President Mubarak to stop what they called the Justice Minister Mamdouh Marie's "arbitrary practices" against them. They called on the President to intervene in the crisis triggered by the minister after the latter came out with his bill to enlarge the Supreme Judicial Council, and to include the Presidents of the Tribunals of North and South Cairo. They intend to send statements and telegrams to the President affirming they are against the non-issuance of the presidential decree concerning the Supreme Judicial Council through the law. The presidents of judges clubs in the provinces and governorates decided to put off their meeting from yesterday to tomorrow evening so that all club presidents could take part. This meeting is due to discuss how to stand up to Marie and his bill.
Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that the presidents of the clubs will not hold an emergency general assembly of judges to stand up to Marie and his bill, as they are unwilling to escalate the situation against the State for the time being. Instead, they will release a statement after the meeting to assert their point of view on the bill. They are due to approve the enlargement of the Supreme Judiciary Council, provided that the presidents of North and South Cairo courts are selected by absolute seniority. Chancellor Rifaat el-Sayed, President of Assiut's Judges Club, is submitting a note to the meeting of the club presidents tomorrow. The note says the judges unanimously welcome the enlargement of the Supreme Judicial Council from 7 to 11 members by including the presidents of the courts of Mansoura, Ismailia, North and South Cairo so that judges and court presidents are represented in their council. Yet, according to the note, the two presidents of North and South Cairo Courts must be appointed according to the same rule applied to the appointment of the other members of the Supreme Judicial Council, i.e. by absolute seniority. The note also says the judges unanimously reject the candidature of the presidents of North and South Cairo Courts by the minister. In its meeting on Saturday evening, Menya's Judges Club said the appointment of two new members runs contrary to judiciary's independence. In a related context, the internal dispute within Tanta's Judges Club has been settled after the election of Chancellor Abdel Moniem el-Sehimi. He was the only candidate given the Supreme Judicial Council's decision not to extend the retirement age for judges. As a result, Chancellor Azmy El-Bakri retired for having reached the legal age. The elections for the remaining posts will be held on September 25.
Meanwhile, news has circulated that some judges are calling for withdrawing confidence from Chancellor Ahmed El-Zind, President of Egypt's Judges Club, for not standing up to Minister Marie and his bill and for refusing to convene a general assembly at the Judges Club.
Chancellor Mahmoud Raslan, Vice-President of the Court of Cassation, has proposed to the board of directors of the Beni Suef's Judges Club to withdraw confidence from El-Zind and to submit the matter to the general assembly of Beni Suef's Club, which is due to be held tomorrow. The board, though, unanimously rejected the proposal for fear of splitting the judges.
