A judicial disciplinary committee has removed a judge from his position as punishment for his presence at a pro-Brotherhood protest.

Waleed Sharabi, a spokesman for the Judges for Egypt group, was referred to a disciplinary committee in October for being present at a protest in Rabaa Al-Adawiya in Cairo.

Protesters gathered at Rabaa for two months after the ouster of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July, demanding his reinstatement. Sharabi’s presence at the camp was viewed as bias towards a particular political faction, a violation of the judicial law.

Judges for Egypt was founded by a group of reformist judges after the 2011 revolution, and helped monitor the 2012 presidential elections, won by Morsi. The group has been accused of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.

On 23 December, several founding members of Judges for Egypt were summoned on charges of forming a group that disturbs security and social peace, and of inciting strife among judges.

The summoned judges include former presidential advisor to Mohamed Morsi, Mahmoud Mekki, former deputy head of the appeals court, Mahmoud El-Khodeiry, and former head of the Judges Club, Zakaria Abdel-Aziz. The three figures played leading roles in the pro-judicial independence protests in 2005-7 during the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.

The Judges for Egypt group announced on 17 December on their official Facebook page that they planned to boycott the upcoming referendum on the constitution amended after Morsi’s ouster, which they termed “the constitution of the military."

According to a source from the Supreme Electoral Commission, only judges who are under investigation or have been suspended from duty will be barred from supervising elections.

Some sources have claimed that all members of Judges for Egypt will be excluded from monitoring the upcoming polls, along with all judges who signed the so-called “Rabaa statement” in support of Morsi.

The referendum will take place on 14-15 January.