Egyptian judge to sue NY Times

Judge Tahani El-Gebali Cairo - Mohammed al-Shennawi Deputy Head of Egypt's High Constitutional Court, judge Tahani el-Gebali has firmly denied providing any comments to the American newspaper, the New York Times, vowing she will prosecute the newspaper for the report in which Gebali is quoted as saying that she advised Egypt's former ruling Supreme Council of the Military Forces (SCAF) not to cede power to civilians until a constitution was written. Gebali accused the American newspaper of "trying to defame Egypt's patriotic figures", saying that the "rigged" comments attributed to her were in response to her criticism of the statement given by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in Which Clinton described the Egyptian judiciary as "politicised", after the High Constitutional Court issued a verdict that led to the dissolution of Egypt's first elected parliament after the January 25 revolution. The New York Times quoted Gebali as  saying that her own direct contacts with the generals began in May last year, after a demonstration by mostly liberal and secular activists demanding a constitution or at least a bill of rights before elections. “This changed the vision of the military council,” she was quoted as saying, along with “It had thought that the only popular power in the street was the Muslim Brotherhood.” According to the newspaper, it was also around that time, that Judge Gebali  began helping the military-led government draft a set of binding constitutional ground rules. The rules protected civil liberties, she said, but also explicitly granted the military autonomy from any oversight, as well as a permanent power to intervene in politics. “The military council accepted it, and agreed to issue a ‘constitutional charter’ with it,” she said. But as the military-led government disclosed the rules, known here as the Selmi document, the provisions concerning the military’s power aroused fierce opposition, culminating in a week-long street battle with security forces near Tahrir Square that left about 45 people dead. The planned decree “was thwarted every time by all the noise, the popular mobilisation, the million-man marches" Judge Gebali was reported as saying, blaming the Islamists even though they were only one part of the protests, the New York Times said. Some political analysts and legislation experts said that the generals effectively planted a booby trap in the parliamentary elections by leaving them vulnerable to judicial negation at any time — if the generals allowed previous precedents to apply. The elections had “a fatal poison,” the New York Times quoted Judge Gebali saying. “Any reader of the situation would’ve known that this appeal would be the end of the parliament.” When the elected parliament sought to take control of the interim government, the generals’ prime minister expressly threatened the lawmakers with judicial dissolution, the parliament's speaker Dr Saad al-Katatni said at the time. The decision “is in the drawers of the constitutional court, and it could be taken out at any time,” Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri told al-Katatni, as he recalled in March from the floor of Parliament. Parliament backed down, and the warning proved prescient. But Mr Ganzouri denied making the threat. The report continued quoting Gebali: " I sent the ruling generals a memo urging them to put off any votes. Democracy isn’t only about casting votes; it’s about building a democratic infrastructure. We put the cart in front of the horse.”. “But there was severe pressure for the Islamic movements,” she added, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest political force. “The military is the hard power in society, and it was in the Islamists’ interest not to set the constitution while this hard force was in power.” According to the newspaper, Gebali said that the generals had later acknowledged to her that they had made a mistake by going ahead with the parliamentary vote. “The apology was clear: ‘You were right,’ ” she said.