CAIRO, May 18 (UPI) -- A disciplinary court reprimanded one of two Egyptian reformist judges accused of alleging fraud in last year's elections and acquitted the other.
Judicial sources said Hisham Bastawisi, deputy president of the appeals court, was convicted of the charges filed against him, while his colleague Mahmoud Makki was acquitted from the same accusations.
The move suggests that Bastawisi will be barred from being promoted to court president, the highest judicial position in Egypt.
The trial was held amid high security measures as thousands of policemen besieged demonstrators supporting the judges outside the Higher Judicial Court in central Cairo, beating them with clubs.
Witnesses said plainclothes policemen beat up the protesters and chased them in side streets, arresting dozens.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization said as many as 200 demonstrators were arrested.
The Interior Ministry warned Tuesday that it would ban any protest in support of the judges and legal measures would be taken against the demonstrators.
The witnesses said police chased protesters and beat them up to prevent them from reaching the court building. The press was also barred from covering the event unless they held special permits.
Bastawisi had a serious heart attack Tuesday night and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition the next morning. He arrived in full cardiac arrest and had to be revived with a defribulator, Egyptian doctors said.
The two judges have been charged with defaming the judiciary for talking to the media about fraud in the last election. A disciplinary court was due to give a verdict last Thursday, but the pair refused to enter the courtroom after more than 10,000 soldiers and police sealed off a large section of the city.
