In a meeting with Minister of Justice Omar Marwan on Saturday, the president urged drafting the law in a way that addresses the related family and societal concerns and ensures the interests and rights of all parties concerned, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said.

El-Sisi urged the Ministry of Interior, the Public Prosecution, the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), and the state’s statistical agency, CAPMAS, to provide accurate information and data needed for the expert committee to fulfill its duties in a professional and objective manner.

Quest for balanced law

El-Sisi’s directives come less than a month after he highlighted an urgent need for a new balanced personal status law in Egypt to solve family issues honestly and impartially amid a sharp increase in divorce rate in the country.

The parliament has been under pressure over the past years to pass a new personal status law that regulates marriage, divorce, engagement, guardianship and custody.

A draft personal status law submitted to the parliament by the government in February last year was reportedly recalled for review amid controversy stirred by several parts of the draft bill.

In March 2021, the president said that the government is keen to see that any new law would be balanced and served the public’s interest.

Egypt’s prestigious Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, also presented during the same time a draft bill for the personal status law, which also has not been passed.

Judge Abdullah El-Baga, the current president of Cairo Appeals Court and the former president of the Family Appeals Court, has said both draft bills were full of legal gaps due to the “stretchy words” in the text which led to their eventual failure to be issued as laws.

In remarks via telephone to the TV show Newsroom on Sada El-Balad TV channel last month, El-Sisi assigned El-Baga to prepare in the coming days a list of veteran judges with experience in the family court to prepare a draft bill.

During his Saturday meeting with El-Sisi, Marwan reviewed the ongoing efforts exerted by the Ministry of Justice to develop the Egyptian family litigation system to achieve the desired stability in the Egyptian society and protect the rights of all family members, said the spokesman.

New medal for previous judges

El-Sisi, during the meeting, urged awarding a medal to the previous heads and members of the judicial authorities, including those who have passed away, in recognition of their efforts.

The new medal will carry the name “the Egyptian Judiciary Medal,” according to the spokesman.

The president also urged granting merit certificates signed by him for outstanding members of the judicial bodies during the judicial year.

Marwan reviewed with the president the efforts made by judges to achieve prompt justice while dealing with a huge number of lawsuits on a daily basis in the various Egyptian courts.