Judging democracy

By Nabil Abdel-Fattah

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Recent statements issued by the branch general assembly of judges in the governorates and by the Judges' Club are not the first time the judiciary has intervened in public affairs.

In 1968 the Judges' Association issued a celebrated call for liberalisation, an expression of the liberal culture that has always informed the thinking of the majority of Egypt's judges.

Recent statements by the Judges' Clubs of Alexandria and Cairo express anger over the prevarication of the government and the president over several issues including the draft law on the judiciary, prepared by a committee of senior judges in 1991, and the need to amend the law on the practice of political rights, enabling judges to oversee elections.

As the crisis between the government and the judges has developed the judges have displayed unity despite government attempts to foment divisions.

The government has already offered financial incentives in an attempt to secure the agreement of the judges over a limited supervisory role in elections. It has courted elements opposed to the general assembly and has encouraged them to issue statements supporting the government's position, while the attorney-general insisted that members of staff be present at his office in an attempt to prevent them attending the general assembly. The Supreme Judicial Council has also issued a statement refuting that issued by the Judges' Club.

At the heart of this on-going dispute is the judges' insistence that they be guaranteed independence from the executive and legislative branches of government.

The judges' stance underlines their rejection of the falsification of the will of the electorate. In doing so they are adopting the same position as their predecessors in 1968, raising aloft the banners of freedom, human rights and democracy.

This week's Soapbox speaker is deputy director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.