President Mohamed Morsi has been at loggerheads with the judiciary, ever since taking office in late June. Resolving these tensions is not in sight. Days after his inauguration as President, he ordered the reinstatement of the Islamist-dominated Parliament already nullified by the country's highest court. The court soon overruled the presidential decree and once again voided Parliament. Backing down, the Islamist President again infuriated the judiciary and the opposition when he sacked the Mubarak-era Public Prosecutor in a way deemed to be an infringement of the judicial power's independence. In November, he issued a decree expanding his powers and putting all his decisions above judicial oversight. Although he later cancelled the contentious mandate, his Islamist allies encircled the Supreme Constitutional Court for nearly a month to prevent it from reviewing a case on the legality of an Islamist-led assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution. The siege, which prompted the court to suspend its sessions, came to an end only after the assembly rushed through the charter, which was approved in a public vote in December. President Morsi's repeated talk about the necessity of respecting law courts and their rulings has rarely passed the test. Weeks after a court overruled Morsi's decision to appoint Talaat Abdullah as Public Prosecutor, Abdullah is still in his post, with clear backing from the presidency. Morsi's allies, mainly his Muslim Brotherhood group, last week set up a new course for collision with the judiciary by protesting outside the Supreme Court in central Cairo. The rally, which was followed by gory clashes between Islamists and their opponents, came after a court ordered the release of Mubarak pending his retrial on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during a revolt that eventually forced him to step down in February 2011. The protesters called for overhauling the judiciary ahead of a dubious draft law that will be debated by the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, which is in charge of legislation until a new legislature is elected. According to media reports, the draft suggests reducing the judges' retirement age from 70 to 60, allegedly to axe ‘unwanted' justices. If so, the move will raise fresh doubts about Islamists' agenda. Oppressed under Mubarak, Islamists are now seen as in a hurry to remodel the state institutions according to their wishes. The Muslim Brotherhood in particular are accused of seeking to tighten their hold on power and change Egypt's identity. Tampering with the judiciary will call the whole system of the country into question and undermine the idea of unbiased justice. This pattern of behaviour will further erode confidence in Islamists and make the sought-after national reconciliation far from attainable.
