CAIRO: The Administrative Court on Wednesday ruled against Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei for refusing to implement a court order to retry 20 judges who were suspended from their judicial positions. In 2000, the Supreme Judicial Council ruled against 20 judges, reassigning them to administrative positions, Mahmoud Mekky, deputy chief justice at the Court of Cassation, told Daily News Egypt They then appealed the verdict at the Higher Constitutional Court that quashed the council's decision, stipulating that the judges be tried before a proper and "officially registered court, Mekky explained. However, Marei refused to implement the Constitutional Court's ruling. As he announced the verdict against Marei, Mohamed Attia, chairman of the Administrative Court, said that the Higher Constitutional Court's verdicts are final and cannot be appealed. "By law, the Constitutional Court's rulings are [applicable] to the different authorities, he said. In 2007, controversy shrouded the judicial system after Marei approved a new law pushing the retirement age of judges from 65 to 70. This decision upset many judges who deemed the new amendment unfair to younger judges. This decision was also approved by the People's Assembly (PA) who was hence criticized for disregarding a survey conducted by the Judges' Club in December 2006, which showed that only 500 of 4,700 judges voted to raise the retirement age. Later that year, problems resurfaced between Marei and judges after the former made a public statement saying that two-thirds of judges "do not understand anything. The provocative statement led Yehia Ragheb Dakroury, chairman of the State Council's Judges' Club, to file a lawsuit against Marei accusing him of insulting judges.
