Cassation Court requests UN commissioner to be 'neutral, professional'

CAIRO - 18 September 2018: The General Assembly of the Cassation Court demanded the UN Commissioner on Tuesday to abide “neutrality and professionalism” after the latter criticized sentences handed by an Egyptian judge to Muslim Brotherhood members.

The Egyptian judiciary “provides all guarantees to any defendant to practice his right to defense and follow all constitutional and legal procedures that assure this concept,” the General Assembly said.

Reiterating the statements of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the State Information Service and the Parliament, all of which condemned the stance of UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in separate statements, the General Assembly emphasized the independence and integrity of the judiciary, rejecting any interference in it affairs.

Bachelet lamented the death sentences handed down to 75 people on Sept. 8, including jailed Islamist leaders Essam el-Erian and Mohamed Beltagi. Many of the convicted people were sentenced in absentia.

The charges include orchestrating the 2013 Rabaa sit-in, believed by the authorities to have been armed, as well as many violent attacks and protests in the aftermath of its dispersal.

The Cassation Court asked the UN Commissioner to “correct its course” for future feedback, noting that Egypt's judiciary stipulated some of the earliest laws worldwide that entrench human rights and are taught at universities and international fora.