Al-Sanhoury, Al-Bashri, Al-Shazly, and Dakrouri... the symbols of the Egyptian administrative judiciary on his diamond birthday

Observers believe that the administrative judiciary has sided over the course of 75 years with the correctness of the law as much as it can despite the pressures, and presented historical rulings, including the Egyptian Tiran and Sanafir and the prohibition of selling gas to Israel, in addition to the appearance of prominent figures on its platform.

CAIRO -

In the midst of an official celebration documented in a memorial stamp, these days are marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Administrative Court in Egypt, known as the State Council.

The celebration of the "Diamond Jubilee" of the Administrative Judiciary coincided with the reception by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last Tuesday of African heads of state councils and supreme administrative courts, who were in Egypt to participate in the establishment of the Union of State Councils and African Supreme Courts.

According to the electronic portal of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, the State Council (currently headed by Judge Mohamed Mahmoud Hossam El-Din) is an independent judicial body, and exclusively specializes in adjudicating administrative disputes and implementation disputes related to all its provisions. Revising and drafting draft laws and decisions of a legislative nature, and reviewing draft contracts to which the state - or one of the public bodies - is a party.

According to a historical documentary study by Counselor Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab Khafaji, Vice-President of the State Council, entitled "The Absent in the Diamond Jubilee of the State Council, History and Positions", the first formation of the State Council was during the reign of King Farouk I (1920-1965), and the number of judges was 113, including the head of the Council. By a single royal decree, and another royal decree that included one agent and 111 members.

According to the study published by the Bar Association website, Khafaji explained that the King issued Law No. 112 of 1946 establishing the State Council on Ramadan 18, 1365 AH corresponding to August 15, 1946.

Founding and Influencing

According to a monitoring carried out by the editor of Al Jazeera Net, based on legal sources and human rights observers, the Administrative Judiciary Court in Egypt has historical rulings that clashed with major events, which made its sheikhs among the judges a remarkable influence, including advisers Abdel Razzaq Al-Sanhouri, Tariq Al-Bishri, Yahya Dakrouri and Ahmed Al-Shazly, which made the Court of Justice Administrative is an important judicial pillar of the judiciary in Egypt.

For his part, the lawyer and head of the Shehab Center for Human Rights, Khalaf Bayoumi, clarifies that the Egyptian State Council is one of the three pillars that constitute the judicial authority in Egypt (the Supreme Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, and the State Council), and was established in 1946 on the model of the French State Council, but is now governed by it. Law No. 47 of 1972 for the settlement of administrative disputes between individuals and state institutions.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, the head of the Al-Shehab Center for Human Rights believes that there are many prominent names in the history of the Administrative Court, but he tends to choose the advisers, Yahya Dakrouri and Tariq Al-Bishri, given their extended influence outside and inside the council, based on their adherence to defending the rule of law, according to his opinion.

Bayoumi adds that he is grateful for the role of the State Council in many stages of his life, adding that “the judiciary in Egypt in general is going through a state of severe polarization, and suffers from what all state institutions and authorities suffer from, but the State Council judiciary tried to escape from that by siding with the explicit law and constitution, and issued Important rulings.

He considered that among the most important of these rulings is the invalidity of ceding the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, and before them the provisions of the invalidity of the decisions to seize the properties of a number of Egyptian opposition figures, which were not accepted at the time, and were circumvented, but it remains that the State Council sided with this period of time. Explicit law, as described.

Historical rulings

Since its inception, the Administrative Court of Justice (the State Council) has occupied Egyptian public opinion with provisions that observers and legal sources described as historic.

The ruling of the Egyptian woman, Tiran and Sanafir, is the last of the historical rulings issued by the court, after which mass demonstrations took place in celebration of it.

On January 16, 2017, the Administrative Court, headed by the late Judge Ahmed El-Shazly, issued a final ruling invalidating the maritime border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the continuation of Egyptian sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir. the country’s highest court) in March 2018, the ruling in its entirety.

The ruling to cancel the celebrations for the birth of the Jewish Rabbi Abu Hasira - which was held in December every year in the Beheira governorate (north of Cairo) - is one of the most prominent court rulings in 2014, as it sparked widespread controversy and anger by the Egyptians, before the court issued a ruling It is final and 2020 is now completely banned.

The court issued a final and final ruling in 2021 to support another ruling issued in 2013 regarding the right of journalists in Egypt to pay the training and technology allowance (a financial allowance paid by the union) to maintain the independence of the press and journalists in the country.

On October 23, 2010, the court issued its ruling annulling the decision of the Minister of Interior to establish a university guard department affiliated with the Ministry of Interior within universities, asserting that it represented a derogation from the independence guaranteed by the constitution and the law, and a restriction on the freedom of professors, researchers, and students there.

On November 18, 2008, the Administrative Court of Justice ruled to stop the government's decision to export natural gas to several countries, including Israel, in the lawsuit filed by the late Egyptian Ambassador Ibrahim Yousry, as the government agreed to export natural gas to those countries without changing prices for a period of time. 15 years.

The court also dealt with the cases of selling and privatizing public sector companies in Egypt that support workers' rights, including the court's ruling invalidating the sale contract of the steam boiler company in 2011, and invalidating the privatization of Tanta Linen Company in the same year.

Sanhouri

The late judge Abdul Razzaq al-Sanhouri (1895-1971 CE) is considered one of the most prominent figures of the State Council, jurisprudence and law in the Arab world. He assumed the responsibility of the presidency of the State Council from 1949 CE to 1954 CE.

Al-Sanhoury was subjected to a famous attack in front of the council’s headquarters in central Cairo, according to some, on March 29, 1954, after his demand for the establishment of democracy and the dissolution of the Revolutionary Command Council that ruled Egypt after 1952, and the return of the army to the barracks.

The dispute that occurred between Al-Sanhouri and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was the reason for the dissolution of the State Council in 1954, before the issuance of a new law regulating the work of the court in 1955.

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And the late Judge Tariq Al-Bishri (1933-2021) is one of the most prominent figures of the court, as he held the position of first deputy head of the Egyptian State Council and head of the General Assembly of the Fatwa and Legislation departments (the most prominent sections of the court) for several years, before he was appointed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (the ruling Egypt after The January 2011 Revolution and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak) in February 2011 as Chairman of the Committee to Amend the Egyptian Constitution, and has a prominent legal and intellectual heritage.

dcrory

Counselor Yahya Dakrouri, Vice-President of the State Council, is one of the signs on the platform of the administrative judiciary, as he issued the first ruling on the Egyptian islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

In 2017, Dakrouri received great support for the presidency of the State Council by virtue of his seniority, after the General Assembly nominated him, but the Judicial Authority Law was changed before the nominations to allow the President of the Republic to choose among the seven oldest deputies in the Council, instead of the oldest. By nominating Dakruri alone, however, the nomination was ignored, and another judge was appointed to replace him.

Among the most prominent rulings issued by Dakruri is the ruling issued in 2013 to invalidate the invitation of voters for the elections to the House of Representatives. Medical examination of the candidates.

Shazly

The late Counselor Ahmed El-Shazly (1955-2021), Vice-President of the State Council, is considered one of the most prominent judges of the court, as he issued from his platform the final ruling in the Egyptianness of Tiran and Sanafir, which was accompanied by a remarkable popular celebration and a reservation from the authority, before the Supreme Constitutional Court canceled it.

Since 1976, El-Shazly has worked in the council for more than 30 years, and issued or participated in court rulings supporting workers' rights, including supporting the invalidity of the privatization of a number of public sector companies, such as Omar Effendi and Tanta Linen.