The Egyptian Judges' Club (''Nadi al Quda'') was founded in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in 1939, primarily as a

social club A social club may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. Examples include: book discussion clubs, chess clubs, anime clubs, country clubs, charity work, criminal ...

for judges. It is not formally registered as a

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...

, as that would place it under the jurisdiction of Egypt's Ministry of Social Affairs and limit its independence, an outcome the club's members wished to avoid. It considers itself and acts as the ''de facto'' representative of Egypt's judges, and has a history of speaking out in favor of

judicial independence Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

and political democracy. Any member of the Egyptian judiciary and any Egyptian prosecutor can join it. It has over 9,000 members, including over 90% of Egyptian judges.

History

In the late 1960s, the Judges' Club criticized what it viewed as the disregard by the government of Egyptian President

Gamel Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

for the law. In August 1969, the Nasser government dissolved the board of the Judges' Club, announced that the president would appoint its officers, and dismissed over 200 judges in what the judiciary called the "Massacre of the Judges". Subsequently, Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

re-appointed the dismissed judges in 1973, and two years later the Judges' Club re-attained its autonomy. In the late 1970s, the Judges Club' issued statements in support of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

improvements in Egypt, and greater respect by the government for the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

The 2012 Egyptian protests

On 22 November 2012, President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 2012 Egyptian protests 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, and the Judges Club called for a strike. In December 2012, Egyptian

Prosecutor General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah filed a complaint charging Judges Club head Ahmed al-Zend and leading opposition figures with

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

and inciting to overthrow the government. Later in December 2012, when President Morsi called for a referendum to be held over the objections of protesters on a

2012 Draft Constitution of Egypt The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt was the former fundamental law of Egypt. It was signed into law by President Mohamed Morsi on 26 December 2012, after it was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 30 November 2012 and passed in ...

, al-Zend indicated that the Judges Club refused to supervise the referendum, saying:

More than 90 per cent of judges clubs all over Egypt will refrain from the supervision process ... Judges have always been at the forefront whenever we are called to perform any patriotic mission, however, this time it’s different. Most judges are refraining from monitoring the referendum because they have sensed severe violation of their authority as well as their independence.

On December 24, Al-Zind was attacked by around a dozen people who threw rocks at him as he left the club’s headquarters in downtown Cairo, injuring him and sending him to the hospital.

Leadership

As of 2012, the Chairman of the Club was Judge Ahmed Zend.

References

{{Authority control * Human rights abuses in Egypt Organizations established in 1939 Legal history of Egypt 1939 establishments in Egypt