CAIRO: Yehia Ragheb Dakroury, chairman of the Judges Club, filed a lawsuit Monday against Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marie at the state council, accusing him of insulting judges. Dakroury s complaint which is the first of its kind is one of a series of accusations exchanged between the Judges Club and the Minister over the past few weeks. It all began when the Minister of Justice said [in public] that two thirds of judges do not understand anything, a statement that offended them, Abdel Moniem Al-Meniawy, a lawyer at the appeals court, told Daily News Egypt. Al-Meniawy added that Marie refused to apologize and refused to take any action that would ease the tension sparked by his previous statement. The problem is not a technical one, it is just something being said and could end by an apology, he said. He believes the Minister should have taken his own professional background into consideration since he used to be a senior judge himself. "As a minister he should not have made such a comment. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, Samir Al-Bahi, vice president of the State Council and member of the Judges Club, suggested performing a medical check-up "to see to what extent Marie is responsible for his behavior. The Judges Club has announced that it plans to organize a demonstration to protest against the Minister's insults and asked President Mubarak to interfere and put an end to Marie s actions to protect the dignity and image of judges in Egypt.
