A number of opposition parties and rights groups will stage a demonstration on Monday to express their rejection of a new judicial authority law that they believe “was tailored to the size of the (Muslim) Brotherhood.”
They called on all political groups to join them in a march from the high judicial council to the headquarters of the upper house of parliament on Monday.
Mohamed ElBaradei’s Dostour Party and Hamdeen Sabahi’s Popular Current are among those who will join the demonstration.
Tension between President Mohamed Mursi’s administration and Egypt’s judicial authority has peaked in recent weeks in light of a new draft law that judges view as an attack on their independence.
Egyptian judges and opposition figures have both criticised the new draft law for the judiciary for reducing the retirement age from 70 to 60 years old.
They said it targeted senior judges, who strove to contain the power of the Islamist government by annulling a parliamentary election and acquitting aides of toppled leader Hosni Mubarak.
The Islamist-led Shura Council (upper house of parliament), which temporarily holds legislative powers, had agreed in principle on the new amendments to the judicial authority law.