Clubbing together

Judges join opposition politicians and human rights activists in an attempt to force the government's hand on constitutional change, reports Mona El-Nahhas

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Judges are working on constitutional amendments

Judges are working on their own recommendations for the constitutional amendments that will form the core of the government's legislative programme over the coming year as announced by the ruling National Democratic Party and promised in the electoral platform of its head, President Hosni Mubarak.

The recommendations will be contained within a report written by a committee formed last month by the Cairo Judges Club. The report is expected to be finished within weeks.

"In the course of drafting the report the committee remains keen to sound out the opinions of all opposition parties and human rights groups," says reformist Mahmoud El-Khodeiri, chairman of the Alexandria Judges Club and the reformist judge selected to chair the committee.

A coalition of opposition parties, including the Wafd, Nasserist and leftist Tagammu parties, has been formed to come up with a common platform on the constitutional amendments. Curtailing executive power and facilitating a smooth rotation of power top the opposition agenda.

To the embarrassment of the regime, the state-appointed National Council for Human Rights (NCHR has backed opposition demands, reflecting the groundswell of public interest in the issue.

"Judges are part of the nation and as such are obliged to take part in amending the constitution. They are seeking to join hands with different political groups in their campaign to press for constructive amendments," said judge Zakareya Abdel-Aziz.

Once the report is finished it will be forwarded to all concerned organisations, including the People's Assembly, in the hope that the recommendations are adopted when the time comes for constitutional amendments to be endorsed.

It is anticipated that the judges will demand the state of emergency imposed in 1981 be lifted though the report is expected to allow a provision for emergency laws to be applied in extraordinary conditions though only for a period that does not exceed 60 days.

The judges are also calling for the abolition of the Supreme Council for Judicial Bodies, the Supreme State Security Courts, the office of the socialist prosecutor and the Court of Ethics.

In the draft it will be argued that the Supreme Administrative Court replace the Court of Cassation in hearing electoral appeals. The People's Assembly is also expected to be asked to abide by court rulings that may suspend the immunity from prosecution of MPs.

While calling for the urgent revision of several current articles, the judges' draft warns against tampering with others, including Article 88 which stipulates full judicial supervision of elections. It has been widely leaked that the government is seeking to replace full judicial supervision with that of an independent authority and limit the role of judges to supervising only the main polling stations. Judges say they will resist any such moves on the part of the government, and would prefer to boycott elections completely rather than lend themselves to providing legitimacy for a system that is fundamentally flawed.

If Article 88 is to remain untouched, articles 76 and 77 must, they argue, be redrafted.

Article 76, amended last year to allow for multi-candidate presidential elections, places severe restrictions on who can and cannot be nominated and is widely regarded among the opposition as a vehicle to further Gamal Mubarak's chances of succeeding his father.

The judges' draft reportedly reduces the amount of support candidates are required to secure for nomination to the post from 250 to 100 members of parliament.

Article 76 was also attacked for concentrating too much power into the hands of the Presidential Elections Committee, whose decisions are final and cannot be challenged.

Article 77, last amended in 1980 under Anwar El-Sadat to allow the president of the republic to serve an unlimited number of terms should also be amended, say judges, so as to restrict the incumbent to a maximum of two five-year terms.

Few expect the judges' demands that articles 76 and 77 be amended will receive a sympathetic hearing by the government and many senior state officials are already arguing that any change to such fundamental parts of the constitution can be initiated only by the president.

On Monday, in the independent Al-Masry Al-Yom, El-Khodeiri penned an article addressed to President Mubarak urging him to amend the two articles and arguing that a refusal to do so would lead to a loss of credibility in the eyes of the public.