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Abbas forms new High Judicial Council, appoints himself head

October 29, 2022 at 3:47 pm

Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president [Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a presidential decree ordering the formation of a High Judicial Council headed by himself, Wafa News Agency reported on Friday.

According to the decree, the High Judicial Council will be responsible for forming the High Council for Judicial Departments and Committees.

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The membership of the new High Judicial Council consists of the head of the High Constitutional Court, the head of the High Judicial Court, the head of the Cassation Court, the head of the Magistrate Court, the head of the Judicial Committee of Security Forces, the head of the Sharia Judicial Council, the legal advisor of the PA president and public prosecutor.

This decree comes in the middle of a major crisis between Abbas and the medical care sector, which resulted from a previous presidential decree ordering the dissolution of the elected Palestinian Doctors’ Syndicate in the occupied West Bank and the formation of a new one without elections.

Abbas’s legal mandate ended in 2009 and he has rejected holding new presidential or parliamentary elections.

He has repeatedly issued illegal presidential decrees in violation of the judicial and legislative authorities.

READ: Hamas calls for PA security services to defend Palestinians