EGYPTIAN women activists from several civil society organisations held a protest outside the State Council building in Cairo yesterday against a decision to bar female judges from taking posts in the influential court. The protest was the third in a series of demonstrations announced by local women against the decision, which they described as a “step back”. "We need nothing but our right. This can be gained by the cancellation of the State Council decision to prevent women from being judges," said Nehad Abul Qomsan, the head of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Issues, a nongovernmental group. She added that all Egyptian women rejected this decision. Mohamed el-Husseini, the head of the State Council, had asked the security guards to prevent the protestors from getting inside the building to hold their protest on its stairs. "This is arrogance. We will stage the protest anywhere near the Council," Abul Qomsan said. The State Council voted by sweeping majority (318/319 votes) last week to bar women from being judges in the council in a move that triggered a torrent of criticism from local and foreign human rights activists. Aisha Abdel Hadi, the Minister of Manpower and the secretary of women at the ruling party, condemned the decision taken by the State Council not to allow women to work as judges. "This is a move to hinder the progress of women and getting their rights," Abdel Hadi said in a statement on Saturday. Yehia el-Gamal, a professor of constitutional law, slammed the decision against women judges as a 'big mistake'. "This biased decision should prompt the State to amend some laws and articles to ensure women can be judges in the State Council," el-Gamal told The Gazette in an interview by phone. He added that the decision should be reviewed by the seven member Special Commission of the State Council. Meanwhile, the Higher Constitutional Court, began yesterday, at the request of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, the first session to review some legal texts related to appointing women as judges in the State Council. "Articles 73, 83 as well as Law 47/1972 of the Egyptian law organising the appointment of women judges will be re-interpreted by the court," a legal source said. He added that the court would also review if the general assembly of the State Council or the Special Commission was the one responsible for barring or appointing women judges in the court.
