Shuffling the courts
The much-vaunted new law amending certain harsh and antiquated aspects of the criminal justice system may make Egypt more extradition-friendly. Reem Leila reports
Drawn up by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), the new draft law recently approved by the Cabinet amending certain provisions of the penal code, and the criminal procedure law have been termed "a step forward towards social and political reform in Egypt," by NDP Secretary-General Safwat El- Sherif.
The new draft law -- which eliminates lifetime hard labour sentences for prisoners, and annuls the 1980s Law 105 on Supreme State Security Courts -- is set to be debated by the Shura Council and the People's Assembly next week.
"Not only is the new draft law a step forward in improving public freedom," said Cairo University Law School Dean Ahmed El- Sawi, "it will also enable Egypt to fulfil the requisites of international cooperation in facing crimes."
According to Cairo University law professor Fawzia Abdel-Sattar, "The old penal code was always criticised by international legal experts, and as a result lots of countries were refusing to implement their extradition treaties with Egypt, based on the fact that the Egyptian system enforces certain penalties which more advanced countries do not approve of."
In fact, the hard labour sentence -- which requires the prisoner to undertake harsh and laborious tasks like cutting mountain rocks -- "could very easily push the prisoner towards committing more violent acts", said Ahmed El-Magdoub, professor of criminology at the National Centre for Sociological and Criminological Research (NCSCR). "Several advanced countries around the world have stopped using the hard labour penalty," Magdoub said, "and have begun adopting new means of punishment that take the human rights of the convict into account".
El-Magdoub said he considers abolishing hard labour a step forward towards rehabilitating criminals in order to help them readjust to society once they have served their sentence.
According to the new draft law, hard labour sentences would be substituted with other useful types of toil like carpentry and agriculture.
Amongst the new law's other provisions is a stipulation that the types of prisons and prison cells to which convicts will be serving their sentances is to be based on the nature of their crimes and the sentences against them, rather than haphazardly as at present.
The law's effect on the court system is also expected to be profound. Supreme State Security Courts will be abolished, meaning that crimes of domestic security -- including terrorist cases, and embezzlement of government or public funds -- will be tried at various types of criminal courts concerned with public welfare instead, while crimes of bribery, damaging public property and fraud will be dealt with in misdemeanours courts.
Emergency State Security Courts -- which are considered temporary rather than permanent despite the fact that they have been in operation since 1981 -- will remain in place, as they serve certain demands.
Even so, according to Abdel-Sattar, the changes being wrought by the new draft law will place the Egyptian justice, and legal systems in complete accordance with international legal systems.
