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Justice at a Crossroads: The Legal Profession and the Rule of Law in the New Egypt

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Expert panel discussion and launch of the IBAHRI’s latest fact-finding mission report

Following renewed violence in Egypt, and on the first day of much anticipated parliamentary elections, on 28 November 2011, the IBAHRI launched its latest report Justice at a Crossroads: The Legal Profession and the Rule of Law in the New Egypt. The report follows a high-level IBAHRI fact-finding mission to Egypt between 18 and 25 June 2011 to examine the challenges and opportunities for Egyptian lawyers in defending human rights. The report calls on Egypt’s transitional military government, future Parliament and the Egyptian Bar Association (EBA) to carry out wide-ranging reform to strengthen the rule of law in the country and to address challenges faced by Egypt’s legal profession.

An expert panel, comprising Amal Alamuddin, Mission rapporteur and Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers; Dr Maha Azzam, Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House; Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Egyptian Human Rights Activist; and Mervat Rishmawi, Fellow, Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and former Legal Advisor to Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme, considered the main findings and conclusions of the IBAHRI report and discussed what progress has been made to strengthen the rule of law since Egypt’s revolution. Looking ahead, panellists also considered key priorities for human rights reform for the new Parliament and ask whether protesters’ demands for human rights and justice could now be met.

Major obstacles facing the legal profession, identified in the IBAHRI report, and discussed by panellists, included the:

Use of military and emergency courts which lack due process and independence;
Declining standards in legal education, inadequate professional training and over-regulation of lawyers; and
Institutional weakness and politicisation of the EBA, which is not working effectively to represent and protect lawyers, or advocate on human rights.

Speaking on military and emergency courts, Ms Alamuddin observed that from January to August 2011 over 12,000 civilians had been tried in military courts, a larger number than in the preceding 30 years under the Mubarak regime. She underlined the lack of respect for basic due process or independence in both military and emergency courts as one of the biggest obstacles for Egyptian lawyers identified during the IBAHRI mission. This finding was supported by Ms Rishmawi, an observer of many military trials in post Mubarak Egypt, who also noted that lack of respect for the Egyptian legal profession has led to a lack of confidence in the justice system.

Panellists agreed that ensuring accountability must be a priority for future reformers; Ms Rishmawi stated that an independent commission must be established to review the alleged human rights abuses by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Other priority areas for reform identified by panellists included freedom of expression, freedom of association and the independence of the media, which Mr Elsayed-Ali noted had been used as a key method of repression by the Mubarak Regime.

Closing the discussion, all panellists had optimistic prognoses for the country. Speaking on the Egyptian election process and the transition to civilian rule, Dr Azzam observed that a ‘barrier of fear had been broken [in Egypt]’ and Mr Elsayed-Ali said he was very encouraged by the significant turn-out for parliamentary elections which began on Monday 28 November.

Justice at a Crossroads: The Legal Profession and the Rule of Law in the New Egypt makes specific recommendations for institutional and law reform aimed at supporting the legal profession and upholding human rights. These include:

Ensuring and publicly stating that any new legislation introduced will afford defendants full due process as provided under Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
Following fresh Bar Council elections, the EBA’s new leadership should do much more to fulfil its mandate to regulate, educate and protect Egypt’s legal profession; and
The review of all convictions of civilians handed down by military courts and emergency courts since January 2011 and where possible granting the right to a re-trial in a civilian court in full accordance with international fair trial standards.

A full list of conclusions and recommendations can be found in the IBAHRI Report, click here to download the report. Click here to download the executive summary and recommendations in Arabic.

This discussion was recorded and a podcast is now available via the IBA website.

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