Justice Makram Awad to judge NGO foreign funding case

Abdel-Moez Ibrahim Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, head of the Cairo Court of Appeal, has appointed Judge Makram Awad to rule over the NGO foreign funding case scheduled to begin on March 8. Previous head Judge Mahmoud Shoukry had ealier withdrew from the case saying he was "uneasy".
Judicial sources said the new court was not capable of handling the case, while another source said: “The Head of the Court of Appeal may assign the case to a non-competent court if there was an objection to be considered before a competent one”, however, “the law requires to identify the barriers against assigning the case to a competent court”, the source added.
The two judges who were previously working on the case apologised on Saturday for continuing work on the case, in protest against interference in judicial affairs.
Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of the Judges Club has submitted a memo to the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the NGOs case after an emergency meeting held on Friday evening.
The spokesman of the Club reported that the memo said: “The lofty Egyptian judiciary was exposed to a dire ordeal in the NGOs case.” He added that the case was surrounded by vagueness, a fact that shocked the conscientious judges.
He stressed “the need to conduct a broad and transparent investigation, and its results should be announced to the public opinion, in order to clarify the circumstances of the case”. He demanded the perpetrators be held accountable.
The club’s official counselor said: “The judiciary must be free from political interference.”
Moreover, dozens of judges submitted requests to the Supreme Judicial Council, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, for an investigation on Ibrahim's alleged decision to lift the travel ban imposed on the foreigners (including 19 US citizens) accused in the case.
Additionally, the Judges Club of Alexandria considered the departure of the accused foreigners, and the judges' stepping-down as attempt to prejudice the Egyptian judiciary.