Jew World Order

The Egyptian people believe the country’s judiciary system is not independent and the biggest evidence is the presidential elections’ results.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Khaled el-Shami, from the Al-Quds al-Arabi, to hear his opinion on this issue. The video also offers the opinion of an additional guest: Marwan al-Ashaal, international lawyer.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We are talking about the judiciary system in Egypt wondering is the judiciary independent or is there any type of influence by the SCAF and the ruling junta on that as it was evident by the Egyptians, they said that these verdicts recently were influenced somehow by the SCAF which means the remnants of the old regime were present?

El-Shami: Well it is really difficult to say. As a matter of fact some heads of the judiciary system are still in place since Mubarak era and they are, in view of the Egyptians, responsible for what happened in the past regarding the elections and other matters.

But there is no question that the judiciary system needs to be reformed just like many other establishments in Egypt.

Press TV: Why don’t you tell us about the judicial powers that have been set time and again of the military? Shouldn’t it be separate? What kind of judicial powers do they have?

El-Shami: Well the ruling military council at this point still acting as the president of the Republic and in that capacity only they could have the right to issue new constitutional declaration as a new president can do and this will continue until they hand over power supposedly or hopefully by the end of this month and that is why the parliament was forced in the last few days to agree which they could not do for long time to agree on forming the constitutional association that will actually write the constitution.

So they do have power and I think the parliament knows that and that is why they changed their position and agreed to what they were asked for.

Press TV: Well when we talk about the agreement that was reached on the composition of the constitution assembly, we also know that prior to that the SCAF wanted to have some remnants that would protect them from being prosecuted. Isn’t that correct?

Do you foresee them playing a hand even though there has been an agreement now for this hundred member assembly that somehow they want themselves to be obviously exempted from being prosecuted?

El-Shami: Well Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi stated in the past that the military establishment position is going to be or going to remain the same in the new constitution.

Of course we do not know what the new constitution will look like until it is written and ratified by the people in a public referendum but I see really difficult for them to put any new takes that would actually give them any more advantage or protect them from prosecution.

I do not think this is going to happen. I think a lot will depend on who is the next president because it is not really what is written in the constitution that really matters. It is how and what part will be implemented and that depends a lot on the name of the president.

If Ahmed Shafiq who is of course ex-Air Marshal is the next president this will automatically play in the interest of the military council, this will be their favorite choice if these other candidates I still do not think there will be a direct conflict yet, the relation is going to be difficult between the president and the military council but I know that they both are going to try to live together and to avoid any direct conflicts.

Press TV: Looking Khaled el-Shami at what our guest just said there appears this political isolation is going to get rejected if SCAF at top has the power to do that if I understood our guest Marwan al-Ashaal correctly. Do you agree with that?

El-Shami: Not really, I would like to clarify first that actually those who are subjected by the isolation law according to the text is the prime minister and ministers who served under Mubarak in the last ten years of his rule and this makes Ahmed Shafiq an illegal candidate and that is why we have seen massive rallies in Egypt denouncing that he is still in the race.

As for the constitutional court, it is expected that it is going to refuse it for legal reasons and this will allow Shafiq to remain in the race. But as far as the majority of people in Egypt he will still be illegal no matter what.

Press TV: What are the possibilities though of the ruling junta maneuvering on this idea of the parliament being dissolved which in a sense if it were to happen don’t you think that the Muslim Brotherhood would not have the majority that they have right now? Aren’t there possibilities of them maneuvering on this?

El-Shami: There is a possibility and unfortunately I mean theoretically constitutional court should be independent. This is the highest court in Egypt and they just had a new president elected last week and we should give them the benefit of the doubt and expect them to rule according to the law only.

And according to the law many experts do accept the parliament. The parliament will be dissolved next Thursday for purely legal reasons and this will mean that the general elections will have to be re-run again and we will start all over again.

This is true. This is not going to affect the presidential elections but this is going to be in more political turmoil, the new president will not find a parliament to swear in and is going to be a problem and of course the political scene has changed in Egypt now since the election was done like six months ago now.

Muslim Brotherhood have suffered, their credibility have suffered badly in the last few months. They promised not to run the presidential election and they do. So we might see a completely different parliament if the elections to be done again.

AHK/PKH