CAIRO,
April 28, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The current
standoff between judges and the regime of President Hosni Mubarak is
spiraling into a major crisis with hundreds of Egyptians led by
journalists, professors and MPs taking to the streets to protest the
disciplinary action against two senior judges, who hit out at the
irregularities that marred last year's parliamentary elections.
In
a statement released after its meeting on Thursday, April 27, the
Judges' Club called for "democracy through free elections which
allow a real change of regime," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
It
called for "the abolition of all exception laws, including the
state of emergency, and for the freedom to form political parties
without any restrictions."
The
Judges' meeting was held after a disciplinary hearing of councilors
Mahmoud Mekky and Hesham El-Bastawisi had been adjourned to May 11.
The
two judges, who accused the government of rigging last year's
parliamentary elections and some of their colleagues of ignoring the
serious irregularities, briefly appeared before a disciplinary panel
on charges of insulting the judiciary.
Members
of the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appellate court, the pair
insisted that some of their colleagues either committed fraud or
ignored it while supervising the November elections.
The
polls, won by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), were marred
by violence and ballot stuffing, with police blockades of polling
stations in opposition strongholds, according to monitors.
"Unconstitutional"
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Riot police assaulted protestors who turned up to support the two judges. (Reuters)
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Bastawisi
said the disciplinary panel's decision to limit the number of the
defense team was "unconstitutional."
The
panel's presiding judge Fathy Khalifa, who is also the head of the
Court of Cassation, denied access to a large number of volunteers who
wanted to defend the two judges, allowing only five lawyers for both,
Egypt's independent Al-Masri Al-Yom newspaper reported Friday,
April 28.
Lawyers
further argued that members of the state-appointed Supreme Judicial
Council are not entitled to join the panel.
Following
the brief hearing, Bastawisi said he was happy with what is happening
to him and his fellow judge.
"Because
it proved that they are the ones that people want to try, not
us," he added after his appearance in court, according to The
New York Times.
He
went on: "It is not us that are going to court, but it is the
ruling regime, and they already got the verdict from the people."
"Our
case is not important, what is important is ... the right of the
Egyptian people to have an independent judiciary, democracy and free
elections."
Oppression
Ahead
of the hearing, thousands of Egyptian riot police had been deployed
across the capital to disperse demonstrators who turned up to support
the two judges on trial.
Shouting
anti-government slogans, hundreds of protestors tried to reach the
High Court where the two judges are tried, reported AFP.
"Judges
are our voice against dictatorship," chanted the protestors.
But
the riot police, using sticks, assaulted the protestors, detaining
many of them.
Protestors
were also snatched off the street by police even before they reached
the court.
"It
is an indicator the system is breaking down," Rajia Amran, a
lawyer who turned out Thursday to support the judges, told the Times.
"They
are panicking; they are in the dark and don't know what to do."
Youssef
Rashwan, a technician in an iron and steel factory, said he came out
"to support the judges in their honorable stance."
"Look
how the regime treats the civil peaceful opposition," he said.
Similar
clashes took place last week, during which one judge was wounded and
at least 14 Kefaya members were detained as they demonstrated in
solidarity with the two judges.
Nasser
Amin, a human rights activist, many Egyptians regard judges as a
potential counterbalance to the near-absolute presidential powers in
Egypt.
"The
government wants to block the independence of the judiciary," he
told The Washington Post.
"Judges
are speaking out against arbitrary laws and repression of individuals,
and so the authorities feel they must stop them."
Pundits
said that Egyptian police have become "exhausted" by
political tumult to do their original job, commenting on Monday's
triple bombings in the Red Sea resort town of Dahab.
They
said the main preoccupation of state security apparatuses now is how
to stifle political pluralism.
Britain's
mass-circulation The Independent said on Tuesday, April 25,
that Mubarak's regime was caught between further repression or opening
up to more reform and risking to lose power.
