Cairo

- Several incidents of judges behind bars brought back to Egyptian memory the arrest of judge in the Administrative Court, Ayman Hajjaj, on charges of killing his wife, broadcaster Shaima Gamal.

There have been many cases of criminal offenses by members of the judiciary in recent years, which raises the debate about its significance. While some see it as an indication of a defect in the justice system, others see them as mere individual cases that do not rise to the level of a disturbing phenomenon, and official judicial authorities usually go to To say it's just "black spots in a pure white dress".

According to the State Information Service (a governmental entity affiliated with the Egyptian presidency), the anti-corruption system in Egypt has witnessed a great development during the past years, especially after 2014, coinciding with the issuance of the 2014 amendment to the Constitution of Egypt, whose Article 218 included the state’s commitment to combating corruption in addition to the launch of the first strategy 2014/ 2018, through which distinguished successes were achieved.

 Frequent facts

  • A sexual bribery request removed Counselor Ramy Abdel Hadi, head of the Misdemeanors Court of Appeal in Nasr City, in 2015 from the bench.

    One of the most prominent controversial rulings issued by Abdel Hadi was the acceptance of the grievance of the late President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak over the decision to imprison him in the case of embezzlement of public money, profit and illegitimate gain, and his release.

  • In 2016, the Republican decision was issued to exclude Judge Nasser Abdel Rahman Jaber from the judiciary through retirement after publishing several scandalous photos of him in a nightclub, in implementation of the ruling of the State Council’s Disciplinary Council (the Administrative Court).

  • In 2017, the name of Counselor Ayman Shalaby, the former Secretary-General of the Administrative Court, filled the Egyptian media, after he was arrested by the Administrative Control Authority (the country's highest supervisory body) in the case known in the media as the "Great Bribery Case", before he committed suicide.

  • The name of the former judge, Tariq Muhammad Zaki, is still associated with the media as “the hashish judge”, which in 2020 the Court of Cassation (the highest court in the country) upheld the sentence issued against him by the Criminal Court, punishing him with 25 years in prison, for his conviction of trafficking and possession of hashish and an unlicensed weapon, and for forming a formation neurotic

  • And in July of last year, the Beni Suef Criminal Court (southern Egypt) sentenced Judge Ahmed Omar Tawfik, head of the Cairo Appeals Court, to 10 years in prison and dismissed from office, for seizing the papers of 3 criminal cases from the Beni Suef Appeals Court, and impersonating him as an inspector. Judicial.

  • In the last incident, after the arrest of Judge Ayman Hajjaj, the Egyptian Public Prosecution confirmed in an official statement that the job of "Ayman Hajjaj" as a judge would not affect the integrity of the investigations, denouncing the spreading of rumors of the lack of integrity of the investigations due to the nature of the accused's job.

https://t.co/idQ2yEntyw pic.twitter.com/3nCbwjg8vj

— The Egyptian Public Prosecution (@EgyptianPPO) June 30, 2022

touching cases

Jurist and cassation lawyer Alaa Abdel Monsef sees the importance of differentiating between the phenomenon and the case, as the cases that happen do not amount to being a phenomenon, even if individual cases from some judges are repeated, numerous or numerous, but they remain within the framework of the case and not the phenomenon, as he put it.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Abdel Monsef confirms that these cases have a direct and indirect impact on the entire judicial authority, or more precisely on the justice system in Egypt, where some people are horrified that the backbone of justice is defective, and that this authority that all people beg for its independence from The executive authority is committing the same mistakes committed by executives and men of public authority.

The Egyptian human rights lawyer points out that this may suggest to some people that resorting to the judiciary is not the most effective solution, because there are many or few cases of judges committing the same crimes that are committed by ordinary people, such as murder, fraud, bribery and participation in theft.

He refuses to describe the matter, despite its seriousness, as a phenomenon, as most judges are outside this negative range, and those judges who fall into committing crimes are few, adding that it is not possible for a fair person to simplify this to all members of the judiciary as a system or individuals.

He points out that what happens in Egypt from members of the judicial authority happens in other countries, as a human segment falls into what others fall into, but the concern here is to preserve the pure white dress of the judiciary based on integrity and independence, and keenness to uphold the rule of law, not to obtain prestige, privileges and immunity Which tempts some to commit unimaginable consequences.

the political dimension

For his part, the former judge and one of the leaders of the judicial independence movement in Egypt, Mohamed Suleiman, spoke about the political dimension in the case, referring to the participation of the head of the Supreme Judicial Council in the July 3, 2013 statement that overthrew the late President Mohamed Morsi.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Suleiman believes that the judges were subjected to various pressures that pushed some of them to crime, and that the government's dealings with judges are based on the policy of Saif Al-Moez and his gold, which the Egyptian authorities always deny, stressing their support for the independence of the judiciary.