Nearly 100 women sworn in as judges in Egypt judicial body

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Nearly 100 women have become the first female judges to join Egypt’s State Council, one of the country’s main judicial bodies. The 98 women were sworn in Tuesday before the council’s chief judge in a celebratory event in Cairo. The swearing-in came months after President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi asked for women to join the State Council and the Public Prosecution, the two judicial bodies that until recently were exclusively male. El-Sissi’s decision in March was applauded by many women’s rights activists. Egypt’s National Council for Women said at the time that the move represented a political will to further empower women.