Egyptian Judges' Club

{{Infobox organization | name = Egyptian Judges' Club | former_name = | bgcolor =  | fgcolor =  | image = | image_border = | image_size =  | image_alt =  | caption = | map =  | map_size =  | map_alt =  | map_caption =  | map2 = | abbreviation = | predecessor = | successor = | formation = {{Start date and age|1939}} | extinction =  | type =  | status =  | purpose =  | headquarters = Cairo, Egypt | location = | coordinates =  | region_served = | membership = 9,000 | language =  | general_secretary =  | leader_title = Chairman | leader_name = Judge Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen Mansour | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | key_people = | main_organ =  | parent_organization =  | affiliations =  | budget = | num_staff = | num_volunteers = | website = | remarks = }} The '''Egyptian Judges' Club''' (''Nadi al Quda'') was founded in Cairo, Egypt in 1939, primarily as a social club for judges.<ref name="google1939">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3PN0dzSCmEC&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=PA140 |title=Egypt after Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World |author=Bruce K. Rutherford |year=2008 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400837861 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00yVjRJio40C&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=PA275 |title=Judges and Political Reform in Egypt |author= Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron|year= 2008|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |isbn=9789774162015 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref> It is not formally registered as a professional association, as that would place it under the jurisdiction of Egypt's Ministry of Social Affairs and limit its independence, an outcome the club's members aim to avoid.<ref name="google1939"/><ref name="google2"/><ref name="google3">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lswOvpmvUwMC&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=PA71 |title=When the Gavel Speaks: Judicial Politics in Modern Egypt |author=Mahmoud Hamad |isbn=9780549717614 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref> It considers itself and acts as the ''de facto'' representative of Egypt's judges, and has a history of speaking out in favor of judicial independence and political democracy.<ref name="google1939"/><ref name="google2"/><ref name="google3"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8S6Yd047LcC&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=PA201 |title=Global Corruption Report 2007: Corruption in Judicial Systems |year=2007 |isbn=9781139465441 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref>

Any member of the Egyptian judiciary and any Egyptian prosecutor can join it. It has over 9,000 members, including over 90% of Egyptian judges.<ref name="google2"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5viZFAwogJgC&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=PA60 |title=احتجاج السياسي والاجتماعي في مصر: Summer/Fall 2006 |year=2009 |isbn=9789774162008 |access-date=December 12, 2012|last1=Hopkins |first1=Nicholas S. }}</ref>

==History== In the late 1960s, the Judges' Club criticized what it viewed as the disregard by the government of Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nasser for the law.<ref name="google1939"/> In August 1969, the Nasser government dissolved the board of the Judges' Club, announced that the president would appoint its officers, and dismissed over 200 judges in what the judiciary called the "Massacre of the Judges".<ref name="google1939"/><ref name="google2"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITaAc0CVZHgC&q=%22judges+club%22+egypt+1939&pg=RA1-PA27 |title=Towards a Better Life: How to Improve the State of Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa |author1=Abdallah Shalaby |author2=Salah al-Din al-Jurshi |author3=Mostafa El-Nabarawy |author4=Moheb Zaki |author5=Qays Jawad Azzawi |author6=Antoine Nasri Messarra |year=2010 |isbn=9786054233212 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref>

Subsequently, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat re-appointed the dismissed judges in 1973, and two years later the Judges' Club re-attained its autonomy.<ref name="google1939"/> In the late 1970s, the Judges Club' issued statements in support of human rights improvements in Egypt, and greater respect by the government for the rule of law.<ref name="google1939"/>

===The 2012 Egyptian protests=== On 22 November 2012, President Mohamed Morsi issued a decree that immunised his actions from any legal sanction.<ref>{{cite news|title=Egyptian Judges Challenge Morsi Over New Power|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/world/middleeast/morsi-urged-to-retract-edict-to-bypass-judges-in-egypt.html|last=Kirkpatrick|first=David|author-link=David D. Kirkpatrick|date=November 22, 2012|access-date=December 6, 2012|work=The New York Times}}</ref> This and other concurrent acts led to the 2012 Egyptian protests, and the Judges Club called for a strike.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-11/26/content_15956920.htm |title=Morsi faces judicial revolt over decree |publisher=Usa.chinadaily.com.cn |date=November 26, 2012 |access-date=December 14, 2012}}</ref> In December 2012, Egyptian Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah filed a complaint charging Judges Club head Ahmed al-Zend and leading opposition figures with espionage and inciting to overthrow the government.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/elbaradei-sabbahi-and-others-be-investigated-espionage |title=ElBaradei, Sabbahi and others to be investigated for 'espionage' |publisher=Egypt Independent |date=November 23, 2012 |access-date=December 14, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://dailynewsegypt.com/2012/12/05/leading-opposition-figures-accused-of-espionage/ |title=Leading opposition figures accused of espionage |work=Daily News Egypt |date=December 5, 2012 |access-date=December 14, 2012}}</ref>

Later in December 2012, when President Morsi called for a referendum to be held over the objections of protesters on a 2012 Draft Constitution of Egypt, al-Zend indicated that the Judges Club refused to supervise the referendum, saying: <blockquote>More than 90 per cent of judges clubs all over Egypt will refrain from the supervision process ... Judges have always been at the forefront whenever we are called to perform any patriotic mission, however, this time it’s different. Most judges are refraining from monitoring the referendum because they have sensed severe violation of their authority as well as their independence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/548/17/To-monitor-or-not.aspx |title=To-monitor-or-not - Al-Ahram Weekly |publisher=Weekly.ahram.org.eg |date=November 28, 2012 |access-date=December 14, 2012}}</ref></blockquote>

On December 24, Al-Zind was attacked by around a dozen people who threw rocks at him as he left the club’s headquarters in downtown Cairo, injuring him and sending him to the hospital.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dailynewsegypt.com/2012/12/24/head-of-judges-club-assaulted/|title=StackPath|date=24 December 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/61188/Egypt/Politics-/Head-of-Egypts-Judges-Club-assaulted,-injured.aspx|title = Head of Egypt's Judges Club assaulted, injured - Politics - Egypt}}</ref>

==Leadership== As of 2012, the Chairman of the Club was Judge Ahmed Zend.<ref name="bostonglobe1">{{cite news|author=David D. Kirkpatrick |url=http://bostonglobe.com/news/world/2012/12/12/egyptian-judges-group-refuses-monitor-referendum-saturday-draft-constitution/sH9HQE8T7JxfxoEnDxzMtI/story.html |title=Egyptian judges' group refuses to monitor referendum Saturday on draft constitution |publisher=The Boston Globe |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}} {{Authority control}} * Category:Human rights abuses in Egypt Category:Organizations established in 1939 Category:Legal history of Egypt Category:1939 establishments in Egypt