CAIRO (AP) — In their latest face-off with Egypt's Islamist rulers, the country's top council of judges decided Wednesday to suspend its participation in a government-backed judicial reform conference following a renewed push by lawmakers on a controversial bill that would force thousands of their colleagues into retirement.
The Supreme Judicial Council said in statement published by the state news agency MENA that it was backing out of the "Justice Conference" expected for later this month. It had been sponsored by Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, and judges were supposed to come up with a plan to remake their institution.
The conference was seen as an overture to the judges by Morsi, who has clashed frequently with the judiciary since becoming president last summer. Morsi's allies say Egypt's judiciary is filled with supporters of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, who have worked to undermine the transition to democracy and the Islamists' rise to power. Judges say Morsi has tried to interfere in their affairs and curb their independence, with an eye to control them.
The crisis over the judiciary is the latest of many challenges facing Morsi, who faces a weakened economy and opposition from a wide range of mostly secular-leaning groups. Morsi's backers say the opposition is stirring up unrest to undermine his rule, while his opponents say Morsi, who was elected with 51 percent of the vote, has failed to live up to his promises of being inclusive and ignored the goals of the uprising against the longtime autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.
Many judges already had reservations about the conference, citing mistrust between them and the president and his Islamist allies.
The new bill, proposed by Islamist lawmakers last month, has sparked uproar. One of its most controversial clauses drops the retirement age for judges from 70 to 60. This would affect nearly a quarter of the country's 13,000 judges and prosecution officials, most of them in senior positions, including in Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court.
The Council said in its brief statement that the decision followed moves by Morsi's Islamist allies to resume debating the law, which "contradicts the requirement of convening the conference." The council said it had consulted with the country's top courts and judges before taking the decision in an emergency meeting. There was no immediate comment from the President's office.
The council's six judges met Morsi last month, and the two sides agreed to form a committee of legal experts that would draft legislation to reform the judiciary. Morsi said in a statement that he will personally adopt all the conclusions of the conference for proposals of bills in order to submit them to the legislative council.
The Egyptian judiciary has become a significant battleground between Islamists and the largely secular opposition. It is the sole branch of government not dominated by Morsi's Islamist allies, although he does have some backers among the judges. A protest by opponents and supporters of the bill turned into violent street clashes in April.
The judiciary has dealt Islamists several political setbacks. Courts dissolved the Islamist-majority lower house of parliament last year, saying the law governing its election was invalid.
This year, a court forced a delay in elections for a new parliament when it ruled that the election law had to be reviewed by the Supreme Constitutional Court. That court is due to issue a verdict next month in a case challenging the constitutionality of the current legislature, the Shura Council, which was mandated to issue law until a new parliament is elected and is discussing the judiciary law.
Senior judge Ashraf Nada, who presides over Cairo's Appeal court, said the new drive to push the law into discussion in the Shura Council was a tactic to pressure the SCC ahead of the decision on the body's constitutionality next month.
"The return of the law to the Shura Council despite a promise from Morsi that it won't be discussed until the Justice Conference is convened is a conspiracy," Nada said. "If Morsi couldn't hold them to their word, he shouldn't have called for the conference in the first place."
Nada warned that the law discussed in parliament threatens to "destroy" the Egyptian judiciary because it would send thousands of senior, well trained judges to retirement, without a way of replacing them.
Essam Sultan, a leading member of the Islamist al-Wasat party that introduced the proposed law, said the conference should still be convened with "representatives of the people" even if judges do not attend and then its recommendations be sent to the Shura Council.
He wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday that the judges are not above scrutiny, and that the public is looking for justice to be meted out after many years because of "huge cracks" in the justice system.
"It is a mistake for some judges to think that they alone are interested in conferences and draft bills that relate to matters of justice, and that the people don't exist," Sultan wrote. "The solution is with the people."
Judges say the lawmakers are violating the country's new constitution, which requires that the judiciary be consulted on any laws pertaining to their profession before taking it to the legislature. In an emergency session last month, the powerful Judges Club, the main organization representing Egypt's 13,000 judges, said the law is trampling on their rights and vowed to complain to international organizations against violations against the judiciary.
