In a session held on May 2, the government adopted the bill regulating the judicial judiciary. This development marks a new chapter in a years-long debate over the means of achieving judicial independence and, by extension, reforming the judicial judiciary. It also comes as part of the implementation of the reformist promises made by the new presidency and the government’s policy statement.
After viewing the bill’s content (particularly the latest amendments), and in conjunction with the previous statements that we issued on this topic on 13 December 2023, 31 July 2023, and 18 January 2022, we would like to note the following:
1. We welcome the judicial judiciary regulation bill and the societal and institutional efforts that were made within the framework of the Justice Forum, the Ministry of Justice, and the Council of Ministers in order to achieve it. Hopefully, these efforts will continue until the bill is adopted by Parliament, thereby paving the way for the adoption of reforms to the administrative, financial, military, and religious branches of the judiciary. We also hope that these efforts will continue toward establishing the necessary mechanisms to properly implement the new law, particularly with regard to the inspection and evaluation procedures, the mechanisms allowing candidates to run for important judicial positions, and the drafting of a judicial ethics code that best suits the judiciary’s role and situation under the current circumstances.
2. The bill contains some flaws that we hope will be addressed before the final version is adopted in the parliamentary debates:
We also call for a final technical review of the text to fine-tune its phrasing in light of its intended purpose and judicial independence principles and standards and to prevent any confusion over its interpretation or application.
3. We call upon parliamentary authorities to promptly put the text to debate so that it may be adopted once the aforementioned issues are addressed. However, these authorities should adhere to the choices agreed upon in the Justice Forum in order to preserve the law’s participatory nature and uphold the principles and standards of judicial independence.