CAIRO: Despite the disapproval of the opposition front and the Judges Club, the People s Assembly (PA) on Tuesday approved the new judges law that pushed up the retirement age to 70. Zakaria Abdel Aziz, president of the Judges Club, told The Daily Star Egypt that the new law is unfair to young judges. The age of 65 or even 68 is more than enough for judges to hold leading positions, Abdel Aziz said. However, if they still want to work, they can hold administrative jobs and leave the judging posts to younger generation, just like university professors, there are no deans above 60, Abdel Aziz added. The old judges are usually the ones asked to travel and work abroad due to their experience, according to Abdel Aziz, so by increasing their retirement age, they would have more travel opportunities, preventing the young generation from doing so. This year, 50 judges from the appeals court retired, 20 of them were working abroad, Abdel Aziz said. He believes the new law will drive the young generation to depression, and postpone the old judges the receipt of financial retirement settlements due for them. Hamdy Hassan, a PA member affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, expressed to The Daily Star Egypt his disapproval of the new law, which he regards as unfair and designed to satisfy a very limited category . Hassan also indicated that the law was not studied for long enough, the law was created in 24 hours . The law, Hassan said, was proposed in the PA on April 21 and on the same day a report from parliament was made and filed to the PA s legalization committee. On April 22, the report was sent to the Ministry of Justice, and was approved on the same day. Two days later during a mere hour-long session, the law was approved by parliament, Hassan said. Hassan believed that parliament ignored the opposition front which withdrew, leaving only 22 members to participate on the vote. Hassan accused Parliament Speaker Fathy Sorour of ignoring the proposition filed by some members to change the age to 65 instead of 70, something that was not even discussed in parliament, he said. Not only did Dr. Sorour ignore us, but he also ignored a survey conducted by the judges club in December 2006 that showed that out of 4,700 judges, only 500 voted for increasing of the retirement age to 70, Hassan said. If the judges themselves reject the law, who is it made for? Hassan asked. On the other hand, Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, an MP representing the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) told The Daily Star Egypt that this law should be not opposed . According to Kwaitah, the rejections were not objective. The only reason the opposition gave for not approving the law was that the judges club did not have a say in it, Kwaitah said. The new law, from Kwaitah s point of view, will speed up the flow of court cases that usually take years, due to the limited number of judges. We need judges to supervise elections, how can we achieve this unless we have more experienced, responsible and trustworthy judges? Kwaitah added. Kwaitah also raised two points that he believes were neglected by the opposition: first that the new law added new judicial posts; and second, that it placed a strict rule prohibiting any graduate from joining the judiciary unless he graduates from university with a minimum grade of 'good'. This rule, Kwaitah continued, will eliminate unfairness that prevailed when lower achievers with connections took the opportunities of top graduates. Should we reject that type of law? Isn t it obvious that it is made for the good of the country? Kwaitah asked.
