The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

The judge who loved the police

Minister of justice denies systematic torture by Ministry of Interior - Daily News Egypt

Ahmed Mekki was a hero of the Judges' Intifada of 2006. Since he became an ally of the Muslim Brothers and Morsi's minister of justice, his positions have been despicable:

A discussion held between the committee drafting the Information Act and a number of human rights activists and university professors have broken down on Tuesday after the Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki consistently defended the Ministry of Interior’s actions.

Mekki attended the meeting along with the head of the history department at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Khaled Fahmy, associate dean of AUC’s business school Nagla Rizk, human rights researcher Amr Gharbeia and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ (EIPR) director Hossam Bahgat.

All four members withdrew from the meeting after Mekki refused to acknowledge any form of systematic torture from the Ministry of Interior.

The meeting was held to discuss the latest draft law surrounding freedom of information which, according to an official statement released by Fahmy, was not brought to the fore.

According to Fahmy, the minister said that the media has been mostly misleading and false. He also said any reform within the interior ministry should be done internally, at which point Fahmy questioned whether the minister really believes that a ministry which “kills and tortures will voluntarily change their style”. If so, Fahmy added, “why not undertake even a single serious restructuring project over the past two years?”

Fahmy pointed out in his statement that there has not been a single punishment handed out to officers in relation to cases of murder or torture.

Bahgat posted on his Twitter that what he had heard from Mekki in relation to the rights of citizens and media freedoms was “far worse” than anything he had ever heard from the Mubarak-era minister, Mufid Shehab.

I'd heard that in a previous meeting with rights activist Mekki urged them not to blame police but rather "lift the hatred of the police from their hearts"