Archive for judicial source

Judicial source: President to dismiss seven SCC judges within hours

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December 23rd, 2012

The president will dismiss seven judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court within hours, enforcing the draft constitution’s stipulation that the court be composed of its president and 10 oldest members, according to a judicial source.

The source added that the SCC general assembly was holding an emergency meeting to transfer four judges to the consultative body of court commissioners, and reinstate the seven dismissed members to their previous positions.

The source explained that once the constitution passes, it may not be challenged judicially, and the SCC has no jurisdiction to review its provisions.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Prosecution to reinvestigate Battle of the Camel murders

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December 23rd, 2012

Central Cairo’s prosecution office decided on Sunday to reinvestigate the killing of protesters in the incident widely known as the Battle of the Camel, a judicial source told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

On 2 February 2011, amid the widespread protests of the 18-day uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, prosecutors say 24 senior officials of the former Mubarak regime sent armed men on horseback and camels to attack anti-government protesters. During the attack, at least 11 protesters were killed and hundreds injured.

But after a trial that lasted over a year, a court acquitted all of the defendants last October.

The judicial source added that the investigations were reopened after prosecutors received new complaints related to the case.

One of the complaints was filed by attorney Mohamed Mowafy, who alleged new evidence implicating Mubarak, his wife Suzanne, former Manpower and Immigration Minister Aisha Abdel Hady, and former head of the state-dominated Egyptian Trade Union Federation, Hussein Megawer.

Abdel Hady and Megawer were among the former officials acquitted in the Battle of the Camel trial.

The move to reinvestigate the case doesn’t automatically mean a new trial will be held. The prosecution will first have to decide whether to send the entire case to criminal court.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Elections commission secretary general resigns

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December 19th, 2012

A judicial source at the High Judicial Elections Commission told state-run Al-Ahram website that the HJEC on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Zaghloul al-Balshy, the secretary general, who tendered it for health reasons.

In his resignation, Balshy said he did his best without bias, but had to undergo eye surgery which made him unable to complete his work.

Mahmoud Abu Shusha, member of the general secretariat, denied he was chosen to replace Balshy, and said Taha Shahin, head of the technical office, might be assigned with the position as he is the oldest member. “Even if this does not happen, we are continuing our work normally,” he said.
 

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Prosecutors to protest outside prosecutor general’s office Monday

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December 16th, 2012

Prosecutors plan to protest Monday outside the prosecutor general’s office to pressure him to step down, and will hold a sit-in if he refuses, according to a judicial source quoted in privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Meanwhile on Sunday, prosecutors in Cairo and Giza continued a partial suspension of work in protest of Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim’s decision to transfer their colleague, Mostafa Khater, to another city as punishment.

On 5 December, Khater, then the East Cairo attorney general, had released 137 suspects arrested in clashes outside the presidential palace, citing a lack of evidence. In a memorandum sent to the Supreme Judicial Council shortly afterward, Khater alleged that the prosecutor general had pressured him to charge those arrested, many of whom he said had been tortured in detention.

The judicial source said the prosecutor general takes direct orders from President Mohamed Morsy.

“When [Ibrahim] went back on his decision regarding Khater, it was also by order from the president,” the source said. “That is why he must leave.”

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Mubarak, Wali accused of seizing government lands

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June 25th, 2012

 

The Justice Ministry has begun investigating several complaints filed against ousted President Hosni Mubarak and former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali, who are accused of seizing large areas of land owned by the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD) and allocating it to the Cooperative Housing Association for Military Pilots (CHAMP), said a judicial source.

Judge Osama al-Saidi has requested evidence regarding this case as well as regarding related allegations against former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who is accused of selling Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, land belonging to the Pilots Association at well below market value.

Lawyer Saad Mohamed Saleh filed a complaint to the public prosecutor, who referred it to Judge Osama al-Saidi to begin investigations.

A number of officials at the Agriculture Ministry and the CHAMP were also accused of involvement in the acquisition of 119 acres of lands belonging to the GAFRD in the Bitter Lake region and of illegally distributing these land plots to military pilots.

A judicial source said that Saidi had begun the investigations and that the necessary legal action will be taken within hours, includingsummoning the lawyer who filed the complaint in order to examine the documents he presented, and finding out whether or not there are any witnesses.

In related news, a judicial source said that a committee of Justice Ministry experts is currently finalizing its report regarding land sold to the Mubarak sons by the CHAMP in light of the complaint submitted by former MP Essam Sultan against Shafiq.

Sources said that members of the investigative committee have examined the land in question and determined its boundaries as they made the reports.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Expat voting results to be announced a day before local polls open

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May 15th, 2012

The results of Egyptian expatriate voting will be announced a day before voting begins inside Egypt, according to a judicial source quoted in privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Voting for Egyptians abroad is scheduled to end at 8 pm on 17 May.

“Vote counting will take place inside Egyptian embassies and consulates in 166 countries on 22 May, hours before the start of local voting,” the source said.

Voting results from each embassy and consulate’s internal polling station will be publicly announced at the embassies with the representatives of presidential candidates and civil society organization in attendance, and approved by the Presidential Elections Commission.

The number of voters abroad was 57,000 as of Monday evening. Most of them live in Gulf countries.

Those registered to vote make up a small proportion of the estimated 8 million Egyptians living abroad. The elections commission says around 500,000 are registered to vote in 166, and most are in Saudi Arabia.

Around 53 million Egyptians in Egypt are eligible to vote.

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Source: Court entitled to review amendment to political rights law

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April 26th, 2012

The Supreme Constitutional Court is entitled to review a Parliament-approved bill barring former regime figures from running in the presidential election after the law was referred to it by the Presidential Elections Commission on Wednesday, a judicial source told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The source added that the court is entitled to determine the constitutionality of the amendments after they had already been approved by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

The amendments to the Law on the Exercise of Political Rights, which were approved by Parliament and later by the SCAF, strip political rights from anyone who served as vice president or prime minister under Mubarak during the 10-year period before he resigned on 11 February 2011. This also applies to anyone who served as president or secretary general of Mubarak's now-dissolved National Democratic Party or as members in its general or policy secretariats.

As soon as the bill was approved by the SCAF on Tuesday, the elections commission excluded former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq from the presidential election, before accepting his appeal against the decision and reinstating him in the race on Wednesday.

The judicial source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Presidential Elections Commission said the bill was unconstitutional.

Earlier this month, the SCAF referred the same amendments to the constitutional court after it was approved by Parliament, but the court said it was out of its jurisdiction to conduct prior constitutionality reviews, except for the Presidential Elections Law, as stated in the Constitutional Declaration.

Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Presidential committee denies Suleiman will be able to gather missing signatures

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April 15th, 2012

Omar Suleiman will not be allowed to try to gather signatures again, after being disqualified for not having an adequate number of signatures from 15 different governorates, according to a high level judicial source in the Presidential Elections Committee.

The official said that there was no truth to advisor Farouk Sultan’s statement that the former intelligence chief might be able to rejoin the field after gathering the missing signatures.

In a phone interview with Al Jazeera, Sultan said that the committee would allow the candidates a period during which they could present evidence that might prove them eligible to run. 

 Sueiman’s supporters interpreted this  to mean after obtaining the needed signatures Suleiman could once again enter the race.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm.

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