Egyptian Islamists who control the country’s parliament are pushing ahead with controversial legislation aimed at forcing the retirement of judges inside Egypt’s relatively secular Egyptian judiciary. Opposition figures and foreign analysts have long feared that Morsi and his allies were aiming to intimidate or purge judges who have served as checks on the authority of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi.

The new legislation will deepen those fears. One of the proposed laws would lower the retirement age for judges from 70 to 60, affecting thousands of Egypt’s judges and court officials. The Associated Press is explicitly describing the dynamic as one where Islamists are allegedly seeking a “monopoly on power:”

Egypt’s Islamist-led parliament has pushed ahead with a controversial judicial law despite rising uproar among judges and the opposition who fear Islamists’ control over courts. The judiciary, with mostly secular-minded professional judges, is seen by many Egyptians as the only remaining buffer against Islamists’ monopoly of power following the ouster of authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Islamist assaults on Egypt’s judiciary have in recent weeks triggered open violence, injuring and killing scores of people. This morning the highly respected KGS NightWatch newsletter bluntly stated that the judicial law “is likely to lead to more civil disorder” and that “there will be protests by both sides this week” over the legislation.

[Photo: Mohamed Azazy / Flickr]