CAIRO: The Supreme Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice announced that the number of promoted judges will decrease by 100 compared to last year, which judges regarded as a violation of the Club's regulations, Hisham Al-Bastawisy, vice chairman of the Court of Cassation, told Daily News Egypt. However, Al-Bastawisy believes that the move was "expected. "It is the second step after the implementation of the new law which pushed the retirement age up to 70, Al-Bastawisy said. He added that this is not the only problem with the new law that the government forced upon the Judges' Club. "This law will also hinder any delegation of authority, which will slow down court proceedings. Al-Bastawisy also stated that the government does not want the older judges who "have played a big role in rigging elections and opposed petitions exposing election fraud from appearing in public, to ever leave their positions. For months the Judges' Club complained about a government decision to cut their funding. Sidelining the Club in decisions that directly affect the judiciary has also led to tension between the Club and the Ministry of Justice. This tension reached its climax when the People's Assembly (PA) voted in favor of a highly contested new law regulating the judiciary, pushing the retirement age up to 70. In a previous interview with Daily News Egypt, Zakaria Abdel Aziz, president of the Judges' Club, said that judges were frustrated when the PA voted in favor of the new law, which they felt was forced on them. On the other hand, Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, a National Democratic Party MP, told Daily News Egypt that the Egyptian constitution explicitly states that the legislative, executive and judicial authorities should not interfere with each other. "But I currently see that our judges, with all due respect, are interfering with the legislative authority, Kwaitah said. "Some of them are even beginning to hold political posts, which conflict with their position as judges. They are in charge of our legal system which we all cherish and respect, so they should focus their efforts on improving the justice system, Kwaitah added.
