Egyptian Baha'is Need to Wait Again for Court Ruling

Posted: 30 Oct 2007 09:23 PM CDT

Cairo's Court of Administrative Justice had a full docket today...all its twenty four cases got postponed!

Looking at the attached docket, it seems that almost every ministry and governmental agency is being sued by someone. Those attending in the court chamber appear to be a mix of individuals who are awaiting to receive some sort of closure on whatever cases they are litigating.

Of course, the Egyptian Baha'is, accompanied by a number of human rights activists and bloggers, are among those attending today's court session.

The following is a message received from one of those attending in court regarding the two cases litigated by the Egyptian Baha'is, described in this previous post. He explains what happened and why it did happen:

"Today was another disappointment...even though it was technically expected by the lawyers. The court postponed the cases to 13 November 2007 in light of the change of three of the judges of the court. October 1st is the date on which judges get shuffled around and promoted. When this happens while they are handling a case, it is technically expected that the case is presented again to the new panel of judges in the form of its final arguments and legal memoranda from both parties. If neither of the parties present any new arguments or documents there will be no retrial and the case remains in its pre-verdict state until 13 November."

What is not clearly understood is: since this change in judges is always expected to happen on the first of October, therefore it is a known fact that the court cannot rule on any cases during this period of time. Why then were these cases placed on the docket for final decisions when it was impossible to produce any such decisions? It appears to be a waste of time and expense for all those involved. It degrades people's emotions, sense of self-worth and dignity.