Nearly 100 women sworn in as judges in Egypt judicial body

CAIRO — Nearly 100 women Tuesday became the archetypal pistillate judges to articulation Egypt’s State Council, 1 of the country’s main judicial bodies.

The 98 women were sworn successful earlier the council’s main judge, Mohammed Hossam el-Din, successful a celebratory lawsuit successful Cairo.

The swearing-in came months aft President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi asked for women to articulation the State Council and the Public Prosecution, the 2 judicial bodies that until precocious were exclusively male.

El-Sissi’s determination successful March was applauded by galore women’s rights activists. Egypt’s National Council for Women said astatine the clip that the determination represented a governmental volition to further empower women.

Established successful 1946, the State Council is an autarkic judicial assemblage that chiefly handles administrative disputes, disciplinary cases and appeals. It besides reviews draught laws, decisions and contracts to which the authorities oregon a government-run assemblage is simply a party.

The assembly had repeatedly rejected women applicants. In caller years, galore women challenged assembly decisions, arguing that they were discriminated against.