Islamists shut down Egypt's top court

Morsi needs judges to oversee referendum

Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Morsi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country’s top judges and the head of state.

The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without “psychological and material pressure”, saying protesters had stopped the judges from reaching the building.

Hundreds of Morsi supporters had protested outside the court through the night ahead of a session expected to examine the legality of parliament's upper house and the assembly that drafted a new constitution.

The cases have cast a legal shadow over Morsi’s efforts to chart a way out of a crisis ignited by a November 22 decree that temporarily expanded his powers and led to nationwide protests. The court’s decision to suspend its activities appeared unlikely to have any immediate impact on Morsi’s drive to get the new constitution passed in a national referendum on December 15.

Three people have been killed in protests and counter-demonstrations over Morsi’s decree. At least 200,000 of Morsi’s supporters attended a rally at Cairo University on Saturday. His opponents are staging sit-in in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled him to power in a June election, hope to end the crisis by pushing through the new constitution.

Outside the Supreme Constitutional Court, Morsi supporters rallied behind the referendum date. “Yes to the constitution,” declared a banner held aloft by one protester. Chants demanded the “purging of the judiciary”.

The court had ruled in June to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood-led lower house of parliament. Since then, several legal cases have challenged the legitimacy of the upper house and the 100-member constituent assembly that wrote the constitution.

Judges supervise voting in Egypt, so Morsi now needs them to oversee the referendum. Vice President Mahmoud Mekky said on Sunday he was confident the judges would perform that role.