Rights group slams recent Urgent Matters judiciary rulings

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) slammed recent rulings by the Urgent Matters judiciary, accusing it of issuing politicized verdicts, the rights group said in a statement Thursday.

The Cairo Court of Urgent Matters ruled this week to ban members of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP) from the upcoming parliamentary elections.

CIHRS said that the court has released a verdict that it is not entitled to issue, because it falls under the jurisprudence of other courts.

“This ruling is not the first of its kind, but it is a part of the court’s rape of the jurisdiction of other courts, as the court issued certain verdicts following June 30 that fall under the jurisdition of the Criminal Court,” the statement said.

The court ruled to ban the April 6 Youth Movement, and has also declared the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas terrorist organizations. The same court issued a verdict allowing police forces to be present inside university campuses, contradicting a previous final ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court prohibiting their presence in universities.

The statement also referred to a verdict by the Alexandria Court of Urgent Matters banning members of the Muslim Brotherhood from participating in parliamentary elections.

“The issuance of such verdicts by the Urgent Matters judiciary makes these rulings null and not enforceable. These verdicts will encourage more [citizens] to resort to this branch of the judicial system to issue verdicts that agree with their political interests and settle scores with their political opponents. These courts contribute, by issuing such verdicts, to the abuse of justice and the rule of law,” the statement said.

CIHRS recommended that the judicial system commit to the jurispdiction of other judicial branches. Court rulings that are not enforceable tarnish the judicial system's respectability and endangers the general trust in the judicial system, the group stated.

“CIHRS urges the judiciary to end this judicial chaos,” the statement concluded.