Number of judges sent into forced retirement for Brotherhood ties rises to 47

The judiciary's High Disciplinary Council issued a final verdict on Monday mandating forced retirement for 32 judges who signed a statement in support of former President Mohamed Morsi shortly after he was deposed in July 2013.

The council, which oversaw the appeal of 55 judges who were sentenced to early retirement by the judges’ disciplinary board in 2015, accepted the appeals of the other 23 judges involved in the case.

The justices were accused of engaging in political activity in violation of judicial laws and siding with a political faction at the expense of the state.

The council also upheld the forced retirement of another 15 judges in a separate case last week. The defendants were accused of founding the Judges for Egypt group, which was aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood government in 2012 and 2013.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) released a statement on Monday calling the rulings in both cases unfair and demanding their reversal.

The verdicts represent a frightening attack against individual judges, the ICJ claimed.

“By removing judges from the office following mass, arbitrary and unfair disciplinary proceedings, the authorities are purging from the judiciary the very voices that have promoted its independence, and sending a chilling message to others who might challenge the ongoing crackdown on fundamental rights and freedoms in Egypt,” said Said Benarbia, director of the ICJ's Middle East and North Africa Program.

The council’s interpretation of the law prohibiting judges from “political activity” is in violation of the judges’ right to freedom of expression, assembly and association, the ICJ argued.

The statement determined that the proceedings failed to meet international standards, and demanded the amendment of the judicial authority law to ensure that offenses are clearly defined by law.