CAIRO: Judges feel depressed, frustrated and are in deep sorrow, said Zakaria Abdel Aziz, president of the Judges Club, to The Daily Star Egypt after the People's Assembly voted in favor of the new judges law that pushed the retirement age up to 70. The law was approved due to the votes of the members affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NDP), who control the majority of the parliament s seats, and was rejected by the opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, the new law passed by 248 votes. We feel that the new law is imposed on us by force, Abdel Aziz said. Sobhy Saleh, member of parliament affiliated with the Brotherhood, told The Daily Star Egypt that Fathy Sorour, president of the People s Assembly, intentionally delayed the parliament s voting session on the law until most of the NDP members were present. And this is not the first time this has happened, Saleh added. However, Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, parliament member for the NDP, denied the incident and told The Daily Star Egypt that the session was delayed because Sorour was having another meeting. Kwaitah said that the opposition has the full right to freely express its opinions and stance regarding any matter. But the final say is taken by the majority. On the other hand, Saleh said that the opposition voice was completely ignored. Obviously, the government had a law that it wanted to pass as it is, Saleh said. Saleh indicated that the opposition had recommended a suggestion that judges can remain in their posts for as long as they wish but withdraw from the administrative posts, like courts presidents, and supervising committees presidents. The government approved the law in favor of certain people who it wants to expand their time in particular administrative posts to serve [the government's] side, Saleh said. According to Reuters, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, which supervises the judiciary and is close to the government, turns 68 this month. Saleh added that if the government s true goal of the law is only to make use of the old judges experiences then he does not see why it rejected the opposition s suggestion that, according to Saleh, totally satisfies the claimed goal. Abdel Aziz totally aggress with the opposition s suggestion and believes that if judges are to remain in their administrative posts, they will not be able to provide the youngsters with any experience or speed up the flow of law suits; the two reasons the government gave when it proposed the law. Kwaitah has stated in a previous interview with The Daily Star Egypt that the new law 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 has also, in a previous interview, 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 existed 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. The government has frequently upped judges retirement age over the past 14 years, from 60, to 64, to 66, and to 68, as reported by Reuters.
