Egypt: Court Rules for Female Judges

After weeks of demonstrations demanding that the government allow female appointments to the State Council, Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court overturned the gender-based ban and further ruled that the Council’s general assembly lacked the authority to establish exclusionary provisions. The decision left some feeling unfulfilled, however, including legal expert Nasser Amin who explains that the court was not decisive enough in its judgment to prevent similar issues from arising in the future. “This is a conflict between liberals and conservatives within all institutions of the state. The Constitutional Court could have put an end to it by saying discriminating against women in public office is unconstitutional and must stop.”

Elsewhere, debate continues over potential successors to Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the moderate yet often polarizing Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University who recently passed away during a visit to Saudi Arabia. Amro Hassan of Babylon and Beyond presents a few front-runners for this prestigious position — arguably the most powerful in all of Sunni Islam — including Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and the current president of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Tayeb, both of whom are thought to subscribe to relatively moderate strains of Islam.