The Public Prosecution: An attorney acting for society or a subordinate to the Executive authority?

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) published a new study in Arabic entitled “Public Prosecution: An Attorney Acting for Society or a Subordinate to the Executive Estate?” by Mr. Abdallah Khalil, Attorney at law, Court of Cassation, and expert in human rights.

The study deals with the relationship between the attorney general and the Executive Estate, whether the former can be removed from office, the criteria of appointment within the prosecutor general&#146s office, the historical evolution of the manipulation by the Executive of the process of appointment, the historical roots of the establishment of the judicial inquisition of the public prosecution, the role of judicial inquisition in subjugating general prosecutors to the Executive, the relationship between the attorney general and the administrative authorities, the public prosecution and the judiciary profession, combining both accusation and investigation powers, and the amendment of the system of the investigating Judge by enacting provisions giving the Executive further authorization to interfere in his work. Finally, the author dedicates an entire chapter to a discussion of the impact of the subordination of the general prosecution to the Executive on the former&#146s relation with the people and with civil society institutions.

The study deals with the aforementioned thorny subjects at a time when clashes and intense events are taking place between the Judges Club and the Supreme Judiciary Council, during which two of the most prominent Court of Cassation deputies appeared before the Disciplinary Court. Also this study coincides with a vehement debate on the draft law of the Judiciary Estate, which the Judges Club is clinging tight thereto, and which stipulates that the public prosecution and the attorney general should be fully independent from the Executive, that they both should not be subordinate to the Minister of Justice, and that the role of the political leadership&#146s role in the appointment of the attorney general should be circumvented. Furthermore, a number of journalists and writers are under judiciary pursuit because of articles they wrote that criticized the criteria of appointment within the public prosecution, or commented on a number of resolutions of the attorney general.