CAIRO: An emergency General Assembly of the Judges Club on Friday decided to retreat from its threat to suspend work in the courts and prosecution services until security is restored. The General Assembly considered that there are many actions that have been taken over the last week in order to achieve the demands they requested. The judges announced that “not everything” that they demanded has been achieved and the blatant aggression did not stop; therefore, the General Assembly decided that it shall meet continuously to monitor the developments taking place. After a meeting held last Tuesday between the President of the Judges Club and the President of the Court of Appeals, Ahmed el-Zand and Interior Minister Mansour Essawy, el-Zand revealed Essawy's request to grant the ministry one month to fully secure the courts under the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which would provide the police with 50,000 troops. This is in addition to receiving the promise from the Minister of Justice Mohammed Abd el-Aziz el-Gendy to secure the courts through electronic doors, stressing that the courts will not be entered except by those who have an interest, either judges, lawyers or defendants. On the other hand, el-Zand stressed his full respect for the media, “which the society cannot live without. The General Assembly has reviewed previously articles which dealt with some judges that attempted to interfere in the course of justice,” he said Friday's Assembly followed the decision of the emergency General Assembly of the Judges Club, headed by el-Zand on May 6, which ended with the judges giving government authorities a deadline of 7 days to reconsider securing courts and the headquarters of the Public Prosecutions in all parts of the country to provide “an environment suitable for the consideration of all cases and trials away from the excesses, brutality and attacks the judges and courts suffered in the recent period.” BM
