Hossam el-Hamalawy
Egyptian bloggers will hold a “wedding party” in Talaat Harb Sq., Friday 4 May, 6pm, to celebrate the marriage of our future president Gamal Mubarak to the lovely Khadiga, which will be held simultaneously in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The bloggers’ protest party will be held under the slogan: “Heyya ah! Baladna La!” (basically: Go and marry her, but don’t marry our country!”
More details in Arabic.
Mabrouk lil 3aroussein.
From Al-Jazeera:
The Egyptian Shurah Council has approved in principle amendments to the judicial system law, extending the retirement age for judges from 68 to 70.
The decision on Sunday triggered the Egyptian Judges’ Club to hold an emergency general assembly to protest against the move which is seen as an attempt to keep the ruling party in power.
The judges discussed what steps to take to declare their rejection of the amendments proposed by the ruling National Democratic party.
The club is an elected body which oversees the independence of the judicial system and takes care of the interests of Egyptian judges.
Dozens of judges attended the assembly to protest against the amendments to the law, which include raising the age of retirement, something that means that the five top judges who are controlling the judicial system in Egypt at present and who are loyal to the government, will remain in their posts for two more years.
From Reuters:
An Egyptian court has ruled that the state has no obligation to recognize the right of Christians who convert to Islam to change their minds and revert to Christianity, a human rights group said on Sunday.
The Court of Administrative Justice ruled that recognising such changes of religion would violate a ban on apostasy which most Muslim jurists say is part of Islamic law, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said in a statement.
The ruling reverses the position the same court had held up to September 2006, when the former president of the court retired. In 22 previous rulings the court had said that refusing to recognize a citizen’s reversion to Christianity was unjustified interference by the state and a form of coercion.