Morsi's 'clipping judiciary's wings' move could make him bigger 'dictator' than Mubarak

Cairo - Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood-backed government is planning to cut powers of the country's judicial system, and remove anti-Islamist judges appointed by the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak, a report has said.

Some critics fear that they could help Islamists hold broader control of state institutions than Mubarak did.

"These are monopolistic plans," the Wall Street Journal quoted Sameh Ashour, president of the Lawyers' Syndicate, an industry group, and a vocal critic of the Brotherhood, as saying.

"The Brotherhood wants to control all aspects of the state," Ashour added.

Critics have expressedconcerns that the move would give President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood backers increased authority over the organs of Egypt's fledgling democracy.

According to the paper, Egypt's new minister of justice, Ahmed Mekki, however, pointed out that purging courts of Mubarak-era jurists marks another step in Egypt's revolution.

"Judges are a society that want cleansing. The judges will cleanse themselves, not me. I will just remove the immunity of judges who are corrupt," the paper quoted him, as saying.

According to the paper, Ahmed Abu Bakr, a legal consultant to the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said that the party is planning to convene a conference of judges and lawyers to allow them to 'contribute their vision' to judicial reforms.

Possible changes include lowering the retirement age for judges, said Abu Bakr.

The move could eliminate Mubarak-era jurists whom Islamists believe are most hostile to them, the paper said.