CAIRO: A number of draft laws were proposed in 2007, and some of the most controversial pertained to judges. Changes to teachers' salaries, the government's medical insurance system and abortion also caused a stir this year. Judges were in the spotlight once again in 2007, most recently in November when Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei backtracked on a controversial article in a draft law, which would have given the ministry sweeping powers over judges. The law would allow the ministry to strip judges of their immunity and penalize them when it sees fit.Days before Marei retracted the proposed changes, the Center of Independent Judges and Lawyers issued a strongly-worded statement denouncing the proposed law. It was the first time Marei responded positively to judges' demands following months-long conflicts.Last July, Yehia Ragheb Dakroury, chairman of the Judges' Club, filed a lawsuit against Marei at the State Council, accusing him of insulting judges. His complaint was one of a series of accusations exchanged between the Judges' Club and Marei.Controversy erupted among judges a few months prior when the People's Assembly (PA) approved both the new judges' law, which pushed the retirement age up to 70, and the new political rights law.Zakaria Abdel Aziz, president of the Judges' Club, told Daily News Egypt that judges felt that the new law was imposed on them by force. Meanwhile, Member of Parliament (MP) Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, who is affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NDP), said that the judges are interfering with the legislative authority when they should be "focusing more on making the justice system meet the highest standards. The new judges' law was passed with 248 votes mostly from NDP members, but was rejected by the opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood.The opposition had another suggestion: Allow judges to remain in their posts as long as they withdraw from administrative positions such as court presidents or heads of supervising committees.Sobhy Saleh, a Brotherhood MP, said, "The government approved the law in favor of certain people to prolong their time in administrative posts to serve [the government's] side. According to Reuters, "the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, which supervises the judiciary and is close to the government, is currently 68. The government has frequently upped judges' retirement age over the past 14 years, from 60, to 64, to 66, and to 68, Reuters reported.Kwaitah said, "We need judges to supervise elections, how can we achieve this unless we have more experienced, responsible and trustworthy judges? Meanwhile, the new political rights law stipulates that the government set up a committee - to be renewed every three years - in charge of supervising elections. It also prohibits any political activity based on religion.The new law is still up for discussion in parliamentary session of 2008.Opposition, Muslim Brotherhood and the judges were riled once again when the PA's legislative committee approved amendments to the military courts law. There were several points of contention, explained Saleh, chief among them the renaming of the martial verdicts system to the "martial legal system. Also controversial was the fact that the law allowed martial court verdicts to be appealed. Thirdly, it allowed martial court judges to hold their post until retirement age, nullifying the old system where their appointment was renewed every two years. Mohamed Mostafa, vice president of Al Wafd opposition party, told Daily News Egypt that "the government has created a mirror image body of the appeals court. The new law, he said, means that the martial courts are not independent, neither by name nor action.On the other hand, Kwaitah said that approving the new law is a big step forward. "Martial courts used to be untouchable and their decisions were final and nonnegotiable, but now they can be appealed, he explained.Another judicial-related controversy was President Hosni Mubarak's decree appointing 31 female judges, chosen from a pool of 174 candidates. Many disagreed with the process since men are promoted from public prosecutors up to that post. Women are appointed by presidential decree because they are not allowed to work as public prosecutors.Away from the judges circle, two other controversial draft were proposed in 2007. The teachers' law was originally introduced by the Ministry of Administrative Development to increase teachers' salaries by 50 percent. The law spurred debate for many reasons, one of which was that it stipulated that the increase not exceed LE 100. The main controversy stemmed from the fact that at first, the law was not to be implemented on teachers working in Al-Azhar institutions. This led Al-Azhar teachers to strike, refusing to grade final exams until they were included in the new salary system. A presidential decree ended the strike, making the law applicable to all teachers under different authorities. Originally, the new law also called for expelling any government teachers caught giving private lessons, but the move was completely rejected by the PA.The Ministry of Health also came under fire this year with the new medical insurance law. On the one hand, the ministry said the new law was meant to improve the status of medical insurance services provided by government hospitals and to get more people to subscribe to insurance policies. The opposition, however, rejected the government's changing of the medical insurance institution into a holding company. The year ended with a draft law calling for changes in Penal Code section 260 - which prohibits abortion under any circumstances - to legalize abortion for rape victims who are no more than four months pregnant.Kwaitah filed the request on the premise that rape is a shameful crime that threatens the security of the country, and "out of respect for the status of women in our society. However, Dr Farid Ismail, member of the PA's health committee, told Daily News Egypt that "legalizing abortion is a violation of Islamic legislation. He predicts that the new policy will be part of the new child law - which the government has tabled at the PA to protect the rights of children. He expects the proposed child law to trigger controversy on policies regarding abortion and raising the age at which a divorced mother can regain custody of her children.
