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Egyptian Judicial body encourages to Morsi judges to retire

September 30, 2014 at 1:40 pm

An Egyptian Judicial body decided on Monday that they would refer two judges from Judges for Egypt, a pro-Morsi organisation to retirement after they rejected a court appeal, said a judicial source.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “The disciplinary board of the Supreme Judicial Council rejected the appeal of Judge Ayman Al-Wardani, the former General Counsel for the court in Western Tanta, which came in response for the disciplinary board’s referral for Al-Wardani’s retirement after he was accused of appearing in pro-Morsi Rabaa sit-ins last year”.

The Supreme Judicial Council is the official body entrusted with responsibility of managing the affairs of Egypt’s judges.

The source added that the Judicial council also rejected the appeal made by Judge Ahmed Yahya and forced him to retire by removing him from office after they accused him of working with Judges for Egypt, a pro-Morsi organisation.

Judges for Egypt is a movement consisting of numerous judges from a number of judicial parties. They played a direct role in the presidential elections of 2012 following the January 25th revolution in 2011, which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. They have communicated directly with the people through press conferences and have been heavily criticised for playing a political role.

Last Monday, the disciplining judicial body decided to support the referral of former judge Talaat Abdullah, the former attorney general under Morsi. The decision was made after Abdullah was accused of spying on the current attorney general, Hisham Barakat. This action marked the first instance in Egyptian history where a disciplinary body forced a judge to retire as part of a punishment.

In another case, the Supreme Judicial Council decided today that it would postpone the proceedings of 161 opponents of the current authorities, which were set to take place in the Minya Criminal Court. The pending case has been postponed until next January with the continued imprisonment of those accused.

Today’s hearing was attended by 153 out of 161 of those who were accused after they turned themselves into the authorities in exchange for a re-evaluation of their sentences, which were given to them as absentees. The court issued verdicts ranging from life in prison to death and is now reconsidering some of these judgements, as many of the defendants were absent from their initial hearings. The revised court proceedings were held under tight security with numerous security personnel guarding the courthouse and blocking off all streets that led to it.

On April 29th, the court ruled that 37 defendants would be sentenced to death while 491 would be sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly attempting to murder a policeman and two others in addition to acts of violence and storming a police station.

A judicial source told Anatolia that Judge Sayed Yousef Sabra, otherwise known as the “Judge of the Minya Executions”, would not be the official reviewing the case appeals in January as he is set to retire at the end of next month.

Public opinion on Yousef has been somewhat controversial after he sentenced 37 defendants to death and 491 others to life imprisonment in Mina. He is also known for convicting 183 for inciting violence in Adwa, which is located in the Minya governorate.