A Disciplinary court, headed by Justice Nabil Zaki, in Egypt has ordered compulsory retirement for 41 judges for supporting a Muslim outlawed group called Brotherhood, Egypt’s State media reports.
The government has embarked a strict clampdown on Islamists and secular political opponents since July 2013, after Egypt’s fifth President, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown by the then-army Chief Abdel Fattah el-sisi – his removal was sparked by mass protests against his rule.
According to Reuters report, which cited judicial sources; 31 of the judges were sent into compulsory retirement for signing a statement condemning Morsi’s removal and 10 were removed from their posts for joining the ‘Judges for Egypt’ group, which supported the Brotherhood even before Morsi’s removal.
‘The decision is shocking and it is a massacre of the judges,’ Ahmed El-Khatib, one of the affected judges, told Reuters. But declined comment on the allegation.
Egyptian law prohibits judges from engaging in politics, but critics and human rights groups say the judicial disciplinary court has turned a blind eye to judges who openly support the government of Sisi, who was elected president last year.
The government says the judiciary is independent and it never intervenes in its work.
In a separate statement by Egypt’s interior ministry on Saturday, as reported by Aljazera, security forces arrested 63 middle-level Brotherhood leaders who face charges of attacking police headquarters and inciting violence.
Another 13 Brotherhood supporters were arrested on suspicion of possessing arms and ammunition, it added.
The government blacklisted the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in December 2013, and Sisi says it is a threat to national security. The group says it is committed to peaceful activism.
