Dozens of judges arrived at the Judges Club headquarters in downtown Cairo Tuesday evening to start a sit-in against the constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsy on 22 November.
The Judges Club also claimed that 99 percent of courts and prosecutions had suspended their work and joined a strike against the decree.
The deputy head of the Judges Club board, Abdel Azim al-Ashry, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the courts of appeal in Assuit, Qena, Mansoura, and Alexandria suspended work, as well as the courts of first instance nationwide, except for in Kafr al-Sheikh where the court’s general assembly is still in session. He added the prosecutions across the country have also suspended work.
Ashry denied reports that judges organized marches from the club to denounce the constitutional declaration, saying: “Judges do not move from their places.”
The club issued a statement Tuesday saying that they would continue increasing pressure in order to protect Egyptians’ rights.
On 22 November, President Mohamed Morsy issued a new constitutional declaration protecting the Shura Council and Constituent Assembly from dissolution and preventing legal challenges to his decrees.
The club’s general assembly met last Thursday to voice their rejection of the declaration. The head of the Judges Club, Ahmed al-Zend, and dismissed top prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud threatened to suspend work at prosecutions and courts nationwide.
Morsy’s decisions have sparked large protests, and thousands of demonstrators are currently gathering in Tahrir Square. The Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups postponed protests that were scheduled to take place in support of the declaration.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
