Thursday, May 18, 2006

Egyptian court rulings hit reform hopes

FT.com / World / Middle East & Africa - Egyptian court rulings hit reform hopes: "Separately, in the same courthouse, a senior judge, Hisham Bastawisi, who has led a campaign for an end to executive interference in the judiciary, was reprimanded at a disciplinary committee hearing.

Mr Bastawisi, who survived a heart attack on Wednesday and was not in court, was accused along with another judge, Mahmoud Mekky, of bringing the judiciary into disrepute for his role in exposing fraud in parliamentary polls. Mr Mekky was cleared.

Lawyers feared the committee had been formed to sack the two judges and saw the verdict as a climb-down aimed at defusing a crisis that has galvanised public support behind the judges in recent months."

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