DSE: Demands for judiciary independence dominate the news

Demands for judiciary independence dominate the news

By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 9, 2006

CAIRO: The Judges Syndicate has decided to discuss the independence of the judiciary in a conference slated for May 17, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm. The conference is scheduled to include Egyptian journalists, parliamentarians, thinkers and law experts.
The judges said they will plan ways to make the judiciary independent from the state, in an attempt to end the crisis facing the judges.
After two high-profile deputies to the Cassation Court, Hisham Al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Makki, were referred to disciplinary hearings before the Ministry of Interior, the judges voiced their protest and filed a court case against the decision in a Cairo cassation court.
The two prosecuted judges had filed an inquiry and demanded investigations into the 2005 presidential elections, calling the elections “corrupt” and marred by “thuggery” and “fraud.”
As the judges sat-in at their club for days, the police cracked down on their protests; dispersing the groups using force and beating one judge with batons and sticks. Although the police deny that violence occurred and the government has separated itself from the crisis, the judges see the policies of the current government as the main stumbling block obstructing reform, according to the independent newspaper.
The judges also vowed to continue to protest, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm, and have already met with around 35 human rights and civil society groups and activists in order to organize a sit-in by the Judges Club compound by the end of this month. This time the protest will fit the high status and reputation of the judges, they said in their statements.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the judges currently carry out their meetings under tight security measures, with truckloads of security police encircling their headquarters to prevent outbreaks of riots or protests.
The judges’ statements coincided with the prosecutor’s order to detain eight pro-reform activists, raising the number of detained activists to 48, some of whom demonstrated for the judges’ cause less than two weeks ago.
"The detained people are charged with disrupting traffic, obstructing the state from carrying out its duties and insulting the president," one of the security officials told Reuters.
“The activists said police encircled and beat them before dragging away specific activists, including Alaa Seif Al-Islam, who maintains a pro-reform Web blog,” said the Reuters report, adding, “security sources also said police had picked up at dawn four members of the Islamist opposition Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria. Brotherhood officials say about 50 of their member’s remains in custody.”
Also in Al-Masry Al-Youm, political analyst and journalist Mohammad Hassanein Heikal voiced his criticism of the current government in an open discussion with the press. “There are few options for this country, we need change on a wider level,” said Heikal. “We need a new constitution.”
“The current [government] does not have a set project, a plan, for reform in politics, economy, or even on the social level,” said Heikal. “It is a disaster. What we see now has only created hope for everybody … but in the end [nothing happens] and we see everyone is fighting one another.”
“[The government] will not willingly accept change. We must unite and exert pressure on the government as groups for change to take place.”
Speaking on the conditions of the press in Egypt, Heikal said that the Egyptian press “is at its worst.” Heikal said that encouragement for reporters in these difficult times is most desperately needed. Donation grants, fellowships and awards for journalists are necessary in order to raise the quality of journalism, said Heikal, and make it more informative on all levels, in terms of both editorials and news.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1436