You are :
1/6/2002
|
|
EOHR Welcomes Judges Guarantees,
Urges Judiciary High Council Reconsider Stance
|
30/11/2005
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) welcomes meeting outcomes held Monday between Parliamentary Election High Committee (PEHC) and Judges' Club Board members on procedures guaranteeing safety of judges on the one hand and well-run elections on the other. Meanwhile, EOHR does call for an immediate investigation of harassments inflicted upon superintending judges during Phases One and Two of the Parliamentary Elections so judges, themselves an essential guarantee of elections, can do their job as appropriate.
That said, EOHR expresses her rejection of a request by the Judiciary High Council (JHC) to cross-examine judges who issued statements at their own discretion of late. EOHR calls upon JHC to reconsider its decision, especially after judges showed patriotism and conscientiousness superintending elections.
EOHR does also stress that the Egyptian Constitution vests judges with power necessary to superintend elections. Therefore, when pitfalls befall elections, judges should undo them-which is what exactly they did. Their performance can so easily be dubbed unbiased to any political party. Not inconsistent, then, they revealed violations during elections and thus cleared their consciences and did their duty honourably before the people.
Therefore, EOHR does call upon JHC to withdraw her notification to the Public Prosecutor and not to escalate their stance with the honourable judges who, according to the Egyptian Constitution, are vested with power to superintend elections and who, according to United Nations Principles, are guaranteed independence, rights to free expression, meeting, and creation of associations.
Finally, EOHR does call for a quick ratification of Judiciary Power Independence Law (JPIL) that guarantees an independent atmosphere for judges to work within, and
that JPIL should be consistent with international standards of independent judiciary. Time and again, EOHR does stress that judiciary independence during election process starting from preparing election rolls and ending with result announcement should be complete and that superintending judges should be selected from court judges only.
|
|
|
