CAIRO // Demonstrators gathered in front of Egypt's State Council yesterday to protest a vote by council members to bar female justices from serving in administrative courts.
Armed with signs that read "Who will judge the judges?" and "It's a black day for justice in Egypt", about 75 male and female demonstrators stood for more than an hour on the Council's steps.
"It's a very backward decision," said Azaa Kamal, one of the protesters. "The judges who took it forgot that they are judges and only remembered that they are men."
The protest came several days after the vote on Monday by the Council's General Assembly, which overwhelmingly recommended to keep women from holding judicial positions within the Council. The justices' decision could still be overturned by a seven-member Special Council, which is expected to convene next month.
"We are still hopeful that the Special Council will overturn this policy," said Hossam Bahgat, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, in an interview on Tuesday. "We didn't think this should have been put to a vote in the first place. We don't think that gender discrimination is a matter to vote about."
Monday's General Assembly vote was a response to a decision last summer that would have allowed women to work in the State Council, a judicial body that is responsible for advising government ministries on legal matters and adjudicating cases between the Egyptian public and the government.
In an interview on Tuesday, a State Council judge touted the vote, which opposed last summer's decision, as evidence of an active political dialogue within Egypt's judicial system.
But protesters yesterday said that if the Special Council decides to uphold the General Assembly's recommendation, it would contravene anti-discrimination clauses in Egypt's constitution.
"We have Article 40 of the constitution which is talking about equality regardless of religion, race, gender or social origin. So the article is clear," said Samer Soliman, a professor of political economy at the American University in Cairo, who was standing with the protesters yesterday. "This decision of the judges is against not only the principle of equality but the principle of merit. Here you are deciding to give jobs according to gender, not according to merit."
Many of the protesters saw Monday's vote as a setback for women's rights in Egypt, a movement that has seen considerable momentum recently.
Over the past 10 years, other bodies within Egypt's judiciary have incorporated female justices. A 2003 decision allowed women to serve on Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council. A woman, Tahani al Gibali, has also served on Egypt's Constitutional Court for the past decade.
"One week ago I read in Al Ahram [newspaper] that a judge said that women are not fit to work as judges," said Azima al Hosseini, one of the demonstrators and a co-founder of the opposition Tagammu Party. "I want to ask this judge: Now we have had a woman on the constitutional court for 10 years. Is Tahani al Gibali a failure?"
Other demonstrators blamed the vote's outcome on rising religious conservatism in Egyptian culture and the growing influence of Wahabbi clerics from the Arabian Gulf. Wahabbi satellite programmes have amassed large audiences in this country, said Dina Maghraby, 25, who works for the New Woman Foundation, one of the groups that organised yesterday's protest.
"I think they're afraid of losing their power," said Ms Maghraby, of the State Council judges. Ms Maghraby "They're afraid of women competing with them and taking more rights."
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Kanguva
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Henderson, Pickford, Pope.
Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Dier, Gomez, Keane, Maguire, Maitland-Niles, Mings, Saka, Trippier, Walker.
Midfielders Henderson, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse, Winks.
Forwards Abraham, Barnes, Calvert-Lewin, Grealish, Ings, Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Results:
Women:
1. Rhiannan Iffland (AUS) 322.95 points
2. Lysanne Richard (CAN) 285.75
3. Ellie Smart (USA) 277.70
Men:
1. Gary Hunt (GBR) 431.55
2. Constantin Popovici (ROU) 424.65
3. Oleksiy Prygorov (UKR) 392.30
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What is 'Soft Power'?
Soft power was first mentioned in 1990 by former US Defence Secretary Joseph Nye.
He believed that there were alternative ways of cultivating support from other countries, instead of achieving goals using military strength.
Soft power is, at its root, the ability to convince other states to do what you want without force.
This is traditionally achieved by proving that you share morals and values.
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
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UAE squad
Rohan Mustafa (captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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