Egyptian Judges' Club mulls response to transfer of Cairo district attorney

Judges to hold emergency meeting after East Cairo's district attorney is transferred following his release of detainees accused of attacking Morsi supporters last week The Egyptian Judges' Club – an unofficial body of Egypt's judges – will hold an urgent general assembly meeting to decide how to respond to a decision by Egypt's new prosecutor-general to transfer district attorney for East Cairo Moustafa Khater to the Upper Egyptian city of Beni Suef. The decision came after Khater ordered the release of protesters arrested following last week's clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi outside the presidential palace in Cairo. According to Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website, Mohamed Abdel-Hadi, head of the club's media committee, said that members of Egypt's General Prosecution had called for the meeting on Thursday at 5pm at judges' club headquarters in downtown Cairo. A judicial source told the website that Khater's decision to release 137 of those accused of taking part in the clashes – reportedly due to a lack of evidence – was the reason for his transfer by Egypt's new Morsi-appointed prosecutor-general, Talaat Abdullah. Those released had been accused of violently attacking the president's supporters last Wednesday outside the palace. A number of those accused had been handed over to prosecutors by Morsi supporters themselves, who had detained dozens of anti-Morsi activists. Last week's clashes outside the palace began after the president's supporters dispersed a sit-in staged by activists opposed to a controversial presidential decree that temporarily bolstered Morsi's powers. From Ahramonline