Egypt Must Reform Its Judicial System - and Do So Quickly [The National]

March 27, 2014

Since Egypt’s transition period began after the tumultuous events of 2011, three types of reform have long been considered vital. The country cannot achieve sustained progress without reforming its security sector, its economy and its judiciary.

The need for those reforms to begin has, thus far, remained unanswered. Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El Sisi is likely to become Egypt’s next president, after announcing his candidacy on Wednesday – and these reforms remain imperative.

Earlier this week, a judge in a southern Egypt court sentenced 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death. The entire proceedings were completed within a few hours. Most of the defendants were tried and sentenced in absentia. Their next day in court, – or, at least, the next stage in the legal process – will be in April, when most observers expect the verdict to be overturned.

This case involved hundreds of people in the same criminal trial.It is impossible for due process to be given to each defendant when the hearings are completed with such haste.

The failure to address the need for security sector and economic reform is already having considerable consequences. The failure to address judicial reform is now doing the same.

On the national level, many political forces – even those who criticised the former Morsi government – such as Naguib Sawiris, the prominent political figure, condemned the ruling. A dozen of Egypt’s most prolific civil rights organisations did the same in a joint statement. Many in the international community reacted in the same way, including the UN and Amnesty International.

Various governments in Europe and elsewhere, while they support Egypt’s new post-Morsi authorities, publicly expressed grave concerns about the judgement. Even Queen Noor of Jordan, a country deeply friendly to Egypt, described the ruling as “horrifying”.

But this cannot simply be written off as a public relations disaster. The absence of judicial reform in Egypt is an issue that affects the viability of the state, directly and indirectly.

These cases may mean even more Egyptians will view the judicial system as one where they feel they cannot seek justice.

And, if Egyptians do not feel there is a functional legal process, the more radical among them may seek redress through other less palatable means. At a time when Egypt is facing several different types of militant threats, it does not need to provide more excuses for radicalisation.

There are those who deem criticisms of the Egyptian judicial establishment as somehow contributing to a campaign to collapse the state. This criticism is unwarranted.

Within the state itself, there are many who recognise the need to reform the judiciary. Judicial autonomy is a solemn principle meant to uphold justice against power, and to prevent interference by powerful actors upon the legal process. This ruling, however, accomplished none of this. Instead, it contravened numerous legal stipulations within Egypt’s own legal system, in addition to international human rights conventions ratified by Egypt. The ruling will almost definitely be quashed on appeal.

Egypt currently faces many challenges: political polarisation, a debilitated economy, and security threats that must be tackled. The best way to do this is to address, comprehensively, these types of reform and put Egypt on a steady and secure footing for the long term. Security sector reform, economic reform and judicial reform are crucial in that regard. Over the past three years, since the January 25 revolution began, no government has attempted to tackle these needs – and with each day that passes, such reform becomes harder to achieve.

Egypt’s friends in the world, who do not want the country to fail and collapse, need to be good friends. Good friends do not give blank cheques – they help friends in need to get back on their feet. Egypt cannot get better without deep and wide-ranging judicial reform. The alternative has already been tried and didn’t work out.

Dr HA Hellyer is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC

On Twitter: @hahellyer

Source: The National

Photo: AFP/Getty Images