Melee in Cairo Reveals Stress in Government
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
The New York Times
April 28, 2006
CAIRO, April 27 — Thousands of riot police officers sealed off access to the High Court on Thursday, beating and arresting protesters who had turned out to support two judges facing a disciplinary panel because they had accused the government of election fraud.
The huge show of force, appearing larger even than what was deployed in the Sinai after four bombings there this week, seemed to signal that President Hosni Mubarak's government had reached a breaking point over shows of dissent.
The focus was a relatively small demonstration over the treatment of the two judges and in support of more than 80 others who had been staging a sit-in for more than a week at the stately old Judges Club to demand an independent judiciary.
The persistent demands by the group, who represent thousands of judges across the country, has united a wide swath of political opposition and has sparked new life in a reform movement that had withered after the presidential election in September.
Since then the government has increasingly retrenched from a position of generally allowing more political freedom.
By Thursday, after days of dealing with the attacks in the Sinai and low-intensity clashes between the police and protesters in Cairo, the government seemed overwhelmed.
Around 8 a.m., massive green troop carriers rumbled into the center of the city and deployed more than 3,000 troops, a number that swelled to about 10,000 by midday, according to witnesses and videotapes.
The army of riot officers pressed in with long wooden poles and body-length shields to seal off the judges from a relatively small group of supporters on the street. Eyewitnesses said at least 50 demonstrators were arrested, though there was no way to verify that.
The police also arrested a journalist for the television network Al Jazeera who had reported — incorrectly — that an insurgent attack on the police had spread into the previously calm delta region, a report that instantly caused a tumult in the capital.
The network retracted the report, but the government held the newsman, saying he was guilty of "spreading confusion."
The demonstrators had gathered especially to support Mahmoud Mekky and Hesham Bastawisi, the two judges brought before the disciplinary panel because they had accused the government and other judges of forgery in connection with the last parliamentary elections. Their case was postponed for two weeks while the panel considered several defense motions.
The authorities also lifted the judicial immunity of seven judges who had complained about fraud in past elections, paving the way for those judges to be questioned by the police.
"I am so happy that they are doing this to us, because it proved that they are the ones that people want to try, not us," Judge Bastawisi said Thursday after his appearance in court. "It is not us that are going to court, but it is the ruling regime, and they already got the verdict from the people."
In a Labor Day speech on Thursday to workers gathered in a conference hall in Cairo, President Mubarak portrayed the dispute with the judges as an intramural matter, not involving the government.
"I tell the judges who make up Egypt's proud judiciary that you are the guardian of justice and protector of the law," he said. "I hope you reach among yourselves a just conclusion that preserves the high interest of the homeland and improves what we are already seeking: an independent judiciary, as well as your prestigious status in our hearts."
But the president's words did little to soften the government's treatment of the protesters.
"It is an indicator the system is breaking down," said Rajia Amran, a lawyer who turned out Thursday to support the judges and described their cause as "the last bastion of freedom in this country."
"They are panicking; they are in the dark and don't know what to do."
Youssef Rashwan, a technician in an iron and steel factory, said he came out "to support the judges in their honorable stance."
"Look how the regime treats the civil peaceful opposition," he said. "No wonder that people blow themselves up. There is no way to go because the security treats all opposition the same way, just oppression."
There are 9,000 judges in Egypt, and an estimated 7,000 have joined forces to press the government for a new law that, they argue, will allow them to be independent.
Those leading the fight, including some of Egypt's most senior jurists, have been pressing the government since 1991 to ensure that judges are free from government pressure.
They say the minister of justice, who is appointed by President Mubarak, can threaten, intimidate and punish those who challenge the will of the government — an accusation that government officials deny.
But the tension reached a new level about a year ago when the judges began demanding that they have the sole right to monitor elections. They complain that even though judges watch polling sites, government appointees tally votes.
"It is enough that for the past 52 years, we have been carrying the liability of rigging the elections in this country," Zakariya Ahmed Abdel Aziz, chairman of the Judges Club, said at a meeting in August.
Ghada Shahbandar, leader of an electoral monitoring group, said: "We can not aspire to have reform without an independent judiciary. It is the first and most important block in the reform process."
After the parliamentary elections ended in December, a group of judges leveled accusations of forgery and fraud, and for that they were chosen for discipline and investigation. The move was approved by senior members of a judicial panel at the recommendation of the minister of justice, officials said.
Mahmoud al-Khudeiry, head of the Judges Club in Alexandria, was one of the seven who had his judicial immunity lifted and is now facing the prospect of police interrogation.
He has served on the bench for 43 years and said he had not seen such antagonism between the bench and the executive since the 1960's, when Nasser staged what is known as the Judges' Massacre by firing jurists who did not bend to his pressure.
"We don't know how it will end or where it will end," Mr. Khudeiry said Monday, as he greeted supporters who came to the Judges Club. "All we know is, we insist on our demands and we persist in our way until we achieve our demands."
Abeer Allam and Mandi Fahmy contributed reporting for this article.
The New York Times
April 28, 2006
CAIRO, April 27 — Thousands of riot police officers sealed off access to the High Court on Thursday, beating and arresting protesters who had turned out to support two judges facing a disciplinary panel because they had accused the government of election fraud.
The huge show of force, appearing larger even than what was deployed in the Sinai after four bombings there this week, seemed to signal that President Hosni Mubarak's government had reached a breaking point over shows of dissent.
The focus was a relatively small demonstration over the treatment of the two judges and in support of more than 80 others who had been staging a sit-in for more than a week at the stately old Judges Club to demand an independent judiciary.
The persistent demands by the group, who represent thousands of judges across the country, has united a wide swath of political opposition and has sparked new life in a reform movement that had withered after the presidential election in September.
Since then the government has increasingly retrenched from a position of generally allowing more political freedom.
By Thursday, after days of dealing with the attacks in the Sinai and low-intensity clashes between the police and protesters in Cairo, the government seemed overwhelmed.
Around 8 a.m., massive green troop carriers rumbled into the center of the city and deployed more than 3,000 troops, a number that swelled to about 10,000 by midday, according to witnesses and videotapes.
The army of riot officers pressed in with long wooden poles and body-length shields to seal off the judges from a relatively small group of supporters on the street. Eyewitnesses said at least 50 demonstrators were arrested, though there was no way to verify that.
The police also arrested a journalist for the television network Al Jazeera who had reported — incorrectly — that an insurgent attack on the police had spread into the previously calm delta region, a report that instantly caused a tumult in the capital.
The network retracted the report, but the government held the newsman, saying he was guilty of "spreading confusion."
The demonstrators had gathered especially to support Mahmoud Mekky and Hesham Bastawisi, the two judges brought before the disciplinary panel because they had accused the government and other judges of forgery in connection with the last parliamentary elections. Their case was postponed for two weeks while the panel considered several defense motions.
The authorities also lifted the judicial immunity of seven judges who had complained about fraud in past elections, paving the way for those judges to be questioned by the police.
"I am so happy that they are doing this to us, because it proved that they are the ones that people want to try, not us," Judge Bastawisi said Thursday after his appearance in court. "It is not us that are going to court, but it is the ruling regime, and they already got the verdict from the people."
In a Labor Day speech on Thursday to workers gathered in a conference hall in Cairo, President Mubarak portrayed the dispute with the judges as an intramural matter, not involving the government.
"I tell the judges who make up Egypt's proud judiciary that you are the guardian of justice and protector of the law," he said. "I hope you reach among yourselves a just conclusion that preserves the high interest of the homeland and improves what we are already seeking: an independent judiciary, as well as your prestigious status in our hearts."
But the president's words did little to soften the government's treatment of the protesters.
"It is an indicator the system is breaking down," said Rajia Amran, a lawyer who turned out Thursday to support the judges and described their cause as "the last bastion of freedom in this country."
"They are panicking; they are in the dark and don't know what to do."
Youssef Rashwan, a technician in an iron and steel factory, said he came out "to support the judges in their honorable stance."
"Look how the regime treats the civil peaceful opposition," he said. "No wonder that people blow themselves up. There is no way to go because the security treats all opposition the same way, just oppression."
There are 9,000 judges in Egypt, and an estimated 7,000 have joined forces to press the government for a new law that, they argue, will allow them to be independent.
Those leading the fight, including some of Egypt's most senior jurists, have been pressing the government since 1991 to ensure that judges are free from government pressure.
They say the minister of justice, who is appointed by President Mubarak, can threaten, intimidate and punish those who challenge the will of the government — an accusation that government officials deny.
But the tension reached a new level about a year ago when the judges began demanding that they have the sole right to monitor elections. They complain that even though judges watch polling sites, government appointees tally votes.
"It is enough that for the past 52 years, we have been carrying the liability of rigging the elections in this country," Zakariya Ahmed Abdel Aziz, chairman of the Judges Club, said at a meeting in August.
Ghada Shahbandar, leader of an electoral monitoring group, said: "We can not aspire to have reform without an independent judiciary. It is the first and most important block in the reform process."
After the parliamentary elections ended in December, a group of judges leveled accusations of forgery and fraud, and for that they were chosen for discipline and investigation. The move was approved by senior members of a judicial panel at the recommendation of the minister of justice, officials said.
Mahmoud al-Khudeiry, head of the Judges Club in Alexandria, was one of the seven who had his judicial immunity lifted and is now facing the prospect of police interrogation.
He has served on the bench for 43 years and said he had not seen such antagonism between the bench and the executive since the 1960's, when Nasser staged what is known as the Judges' Massacre by firing jurists who did not bend to his pressure.
"We don't know how it will end or where it will end," Mr. Khudeiry said Monday, as he greeted supporters who came to the Judges Club. "All we know is, we insist on our demands and we persist in our way until we achieve our demands."
Abeer Allam and Mandi Fahmy contributed reporting for this article.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 9:15 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home