CAIRO: Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marie has finalized a new law giving the ministry the power to lift immunity from judges for investigation purposes as well as the authority to penalize them, according to Judge Hisham Al-Bastawisy, vice chairman of the Egyptian Court of Appeals. Two days ago the Center of Independent Judges and Lawyers, which includes members of the Judges' Club who call for a free and independent judicial council free from the control of the the Ministry of Justice, issued a press release denouncing the new law. Al-Bastawisy, who was recently appointed representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Egypt, told Daily News Egypt that he agrees with the stance of the Center. "It represents the standpoint of human rights organizations worldwide, who will all condemn the law, he said. According to Al-Bastawisy, the new law contradicts worldwide laws that give judges immunity - leaving the judicial councils the only authority that monitors the judges and conducts investigations when necessary. "If the government wants to investigate a judge, according to the constitution, it has to go through the public prosecutor who has to approve any request to lift a judge's immunity. Then the investigations are to be conducted by the supreme judicial council and not the Ministry of Justice, Al-Bastawisy added. If Marie's law is passed through parliament, says Al-Bastawisy, "it will be a violation of the laws of the judicial systems worldwide. This is not Marie's first conflict with Egyptian judges. Last July, Yehia Ragheb Dakroury, chairman of the Judges' Club, filed a lawsuit against Marie at the state council, accusing him of insulting judges. Dakroury's complaint was one of a series of accusations exchanged between the Judges' Club and Marie that trailed for two weeks.
