The rule of law in Egypt has collapsed due to the privileges of the elite

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A quarrel inside an Egyptian court between an officer from the court guarding force and an advisor in the Administrative Prosecution turned into a conversation in Egypt’s political, media, and social circles. The quarrel showed part of the conflict between the agencies and institutions and the weight of each party. Observers say that quarrel emphasised the law’s loss of its power, to be applied only to the poor who do not have power or influence to protect them. The story began after a video clip appeared in which a woman assaulted a police officer inside a court, stripping the police ranks from his uniform, insulting and defaming him.

According to the officer, the circulating video clip shows a woman in her 50s entering into an altercation with a police officer after he refused to take pictures inside the court and not wear a protective mask. The woman stood in front of the officer, who stopped her for not wearing a mask and taking pictures inside the court. She replies, “I am a consultant and a member of the United Nations.”

The officer asked her to show her identity. Still, she responded with a categorical refusal, which made him assure her that if she did not show her ID, he would handcuff her and put her in prison. The woman replied to him, “go away trash,” which made the officer ask one of the attendees to document the incident with a video clip. He took her mobile phone so that the matter developed into a fistfight between them.

Counselor and Officer

Egyptian media confirmed that the incident took place in the Heliopolis Court and that the security services arrested the woman. It was later revealed that the woman was released from the prosecution on bail of EGP 2,000 ($125), and that she is called Noha al-Imam al-Sayed Muhammad. She is the head of the administrative prosecution office.

Security sources clarified that after it is proven that the woman works in one of the judicial authorities and that there is indeed cooperation between her and one of the United Nations agencies, the issue can be settled in one way or another. The sources noted that it is possible for the officer to waive the report issued against the Chancellor Noha al-Imam, provided that the matter ends amicably. The Public Prosecution statement said that, after interrogating the accused, she would be released if she paid a financial guarantee of EGP 2,000 after it learned that the accused suffers from mental health issues.

Reactions

People shared the video on social media, confirming that it is the first time for years they had seen someone insult a police officer, strip him of his rank, and insult the Egyptian police. Although the incident was a rare insult to the police and state institutions, the law was not applied to her. Instead, her release was carried out immediately under a strange and flimsy pretext.

Observers wondered about the reason for the release of the woman and how she has a mental illness. At the same time, she works in the position of the chief administrative prosecutor and enjoys judicial immunity. Others compared the speed of her exit from the prosecution with other pictures of women who were arrested and their goods confiscated because they were street vendors, on the pretext of disrupting traffic.

The tweets unanimously ridicule the state of the agencies and institutions in Egypt and what the legal and judicial status has turned into, which crushes the poor while protecting those with fame and influence. Some activists stated that the woman who attacked the officer worked in the chief administrative prosecutor’s position, her brother was a prosecutor, her husband was the head of an appeals court, and her father was the assistant minister of justice. They confirmed that her position and relatives explain why the prosecution speeded up her release. In this case, four decisions were issued, namely, the release and delivery of her mobile phone and card for her work, in addition to mandating the Ministry of Interior to investigate the incident and assess the damage to the woman’s phone.

The prosecution’s strange justification that the chancellor suffers from a psychological crisis has prompted activists to demand the release of thousands of detainees whose pretrial detention has been renewed for several years and that the prosecution considers them mentally ill. The most important point remains in the incident, which is its display of the conflict of the devices and institutions in force in Egypt so that those with the most powerful influence overwhelm those below.

In the end, the average citizen does not find a law that protects or does justice to him, but rather he is a victim to the great powers in society represented in the army, the judiciary, the oligarchy and the police.