President Mohamed Morsi met on Sunday with members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in an attempt to defuse a growing dispute over amendments to the 1972 law regulating the judicial authority. According to SJC Chairman Mohamed Metwalli, the meeting concluded with a decision to hold a “justice conference”. “Meetings will be hosted by the presidency for a month after which a general conference will be convened to approve the introduction of several amendments to the judicial authority law,” Metwalli said. Maher Al-Beheiri, chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), said Morsi had vowed not to meddle with the internal affairs of the judiciary and to await the recommendations put forward by judges during the Justice Conference. “Morsi refuted reports that he intended to cut the retirement age of judges from 70 to 60,” said El-Beheiri. “After a two-hour meeting the president gave a commitment that amendments proposed by members of the Shura Council would be delayed until judges submit their own changes to the judicial authority law which will be discussed during the Justice Conference.” In the hope of containing mounting tension between Egypt's Islamist forces and the judiciary Morsi told Egypt's top judges that he would personally adopt their proposals for a new judicial authority law. According to presidential spokesman Ihab Fahmi, “all obstacles to achieving justice will be discussed at the upcoming Justice Conference, including the formulation of new judicial authority laws.” “The president will present all recommendations that come out of the planned conference to the relevant legislative bodies.” Sunday's meeting, an attempt to clear the air amid an ongoing stand-off between the presidency and Islamist parties on one hand, and the judiciary on the other, failed to satisfy the independent Judges Club. Abdallah Fathi, deputy chairman of the club, criticised the conference. “When something similar was proposed in 1986 it quickly became clear that six months to a year would be required to fully consider reform of the judiciary and the courts. What is now being proposed is that a Justice Conference be held within a month to be sponsored by the president of the republic himself.” In a television interview Fathi criticised the idea of the president sponsoring the conference. He claimed a majority of members of independent judges clubs had lost faith in President Morsi's impartiality. “Many judges are wary of Morsi's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. They believe the group is seeking to tighten its grip on the judiciary and is seeking an opportunity to dismiss those they falsely call Mubarak-era judges.” Fathi expressed concern that the conference would be boycotted by many judges, leaving the way open for judges loyal to Muslim Brotherhood to submit amendments that would then be referred to the Shura Council in the name of all judges. Following an extraordinary meeting on 24 April Cairo Judges Club Chairman Ahmed Al-Zend demanded Morsi apologise for “denigrating remarks about judges” and argued that the Shura Council, “elected by just seven per cent of registered voters as a purely consultative upper house”, was not competent to amend legislation. His comments were condemned by the Shura Council's majority Islamist MPs. Tarek Al-Malt, a member of the Islamist Wasat Party, told parliamentary correspondents on Monday that “Al-Zend exploits his position as chairman of the Judges Club to impose his political leanings on the judicial community.” Al-Malt added that Morsi lacked any mandate to delay the discussion of amendments proposed by MPs. “The Wasat Party has not withdrawn its proposals to amend the judicial authority law and has no plans to do so in future,” he said. In a statement released on Monday the Wasat said it welcomed proposals from outside the Shura Council as long as they did not infringe on the Shura Council's authority. Taher Abdel-Mohsen, deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee and a leading official of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, insists “the president is acting as an arbiter among authorities”. “While President Morsi is seeking to contain the anger of judges what he has refused to give — indeed, what he has no right to give — is an official commitment that the Shura Council will delay the discussion of amendments of the judicial authority law proposed by MPs.” Abdel-Mohsen said the committee had already compiled a report on the amendments proposed by MPs and these would soon be referred to the Shura Council for discussion in a plenary session. SCC's judge Maher Al-Beheiri stressed that “Morsi did not give any official undertaking that the proposed amendments would be postponed by the Shura Council.” Al-Beheiri, however, stressed that “Morsi was clear that he firmly stands against lowering the retirement age for judges from 70 at present to 60.”
