Cairo: A judicial disciplinary board yesterday sent 41 judges into retirement for backing deposed president Mohammad Mursi, amid an ongoing crackdown on the Islamist leader’s supporters.
The board accused the judges of engagement in politics in violation of justice system regulations, official television reported. The board cleared 30 other judges in the same case, according to the report.
The dismissal decision can be appealed at the Supreme Council for Judges, Egypt’s highest judicial authority.
Some 31 of the sacked judges released a press statement in July 2013 declaring backing for Mursi, days after he was overthrown by the army following street protests against him.
The ten others were charged with breaching judicial rules by setting up a political movement called ‘Judges for Egypt’. The judges said they had exercised their constitutional right to free expression.
Self-imposed exile
Some of these judges are living in self-exile outside Egypt, joining an anti-government alliance.
Thousands of Mursi’s backers and members of his Muslim Brotherhood group have been rounded up and put on trial since his overthrow allegedly for inciting or participating in street violence.
The group, now listed in Egypt as a terrorist organisation, has repeatedly dismissed the trials as politically motivated. Egyptian authorities say the country’s judiciary operate independently.
