
Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council headquarters (Photo: Ahram)
Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council SJC) banned on Monday all judges within its authority from publishing any news or comments related to cases under their supervision or other judiciary affairs on social media platforms under any circumstances.
The council said that judges violating this order would be subjected to harsh disciplinary procedures that may lead to investigations in some cases.
In 2015, former justice minister Ahmed El-Zend formed a ministerial committee to monitor judges’ social media accounts, and submitted reports against dozens of them.
In 2011, Egypt's Ministry of Justice put three judges under investigation for giving interviews to the media where they criticised the military judiciary without prior permit from the ministry.
In the same year, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary issued a decision banning judges and prosecutors from issuing statements to the media, citing legal articles that can be interpreted as denying judges the right to express their political views in the media.
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