The Judges Club threatened in a conference late Thursday to halt work at courts of law across the country in protest against President Mohamed Morsy's constitutional declaration that was announced earlier this evening, which it said represented "an assault on the rule of law and judicial independence," and pushes Egypt back to the “prehistoric era.”
Club chief Ahmed al-Zend said the new constitutional declaration “eradicates any hope of a calm and stable life," adding that it mainly targeted the judicial authority. He urged every official potentially affected by the new declaration to “cling to his post to the death and refuse to resign."
He said he holds the president, defense minister and interior minister responsible for any harm brought to judges.
Zend stressed that Egypt's judges will defend the country to the end.
In the constitutional declaration, Morsy decreed that judiciary does not have the right to dissolve the Constituent Assembly or the Shura Council, nor does it have the right to veto, annul or otherwise amend any law, declaration or decree issued by Morsy from the time he took office until the new constitution is ratified and a new People's Assembly has been elected into office.
Morsy also swore a new prosecutor general this evening, replacing the controversial Abdel Meguid Mahmoud with Talaat Ibrahim Aballah; according to his own declaration, the judiciary is to be tasked with elected the prosecutor general.
