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2 Egyptian judges accused of interfering in politics

March 31, 2017 at 4:24 pm

Two Egyptian judges have been handed over to the disciplinary committee after being accused of engaging in politics.

Judge Abdel Shafy Osman, the investigating judge for the Ministry of Justice, ordered that the judges Assem Abdel Gabbar, vice-president of the Court of Cassation, and

Hisham Raouf, president of the Cairo Court of Appeal, be investigated after they cooperated with human rights lawyer, Negad El-Borai, to draft an anti-torture law for prisons.

Victims of torture in Egyptian prisons [rassd]

Victims of torture in Egyptian prisons [rassd]

In his televised remarks, Hisham Raouf commented on handing over the case to the disciplinary committee saying that the decision was a surprise to him, stressing that he only expressed his opinion.

He added that there are no legal texts preventing judges from expressing their opinion on laws and there is no issue with expressing his opinion on a scientific research on combatting torture in Egypt. He noted that the draft bill included practical solutions to combat torture by all means.

On his part, human rights lawyer Begad El-Borai, director of the United Group law firm, said that the investigating judge joined his personal case with the case of the foreign funding that he and a number of other activists and human rights lawyers are being tried in and he was accused of receiving foreign funding, affecting national security and working with foreign parities.

He noted that he only did his duties as a human rights lawyer and that drafting a law is not a crime.

Did we draft the law in secret? The law was presented to the president, parliament and government to get their opinions on it.