Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Mukhtar Ashri, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s Legal Committee Chairman, said: "Demands to clean up the judiciary are not up entirely to the elite, political parties and civil society, but – indeed mainly – on the Egyptian people who made the Revolution. It is certainly up to the people to decide whether the campaign for the counter-revolution is driven and managed from within the judiciary establishment".

This came in a comment by Ashri on rumors claiming that some members of the Egyptian judiciary are leading the counter-revolution campaign to undermine the goals of the peaceful revolution, amid news of preparations to acquit ousted president Mubarak who is accused of complicity in killing peaceful revolutionaries in the January 25 Revolution.

In a statement to Ikhwanweb, Ashri said: "The judiciary, like any institution, comprises good and bad elements. Not all judges are corrupt, but the judiciary is always required to work for and serve the interests of the country and the revolution first, and to uphold the rule of law and justice.

"I call on judges to look at things from the premise that Egypt has been through a great revolution and is now going through a transitional period that needs justice to be established for the benefit of the homeland and the people."

Ashri further added: "The question remains, of course, whether those who benefited from the Mubarak regime, until the Revolution came and harmed their interests, are now afraid changes will uncover their rampant corruption or drag them into the courts as defendants, rather than judges.

"If the prosecution’s new evidence against Mubarak is strong enough to convict him, I believe the death penalty is inevitable."