Amal Clooney "threatened with arrest in Egypt"

Egyptian officials warned human rights barrister Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney that she risked arrest after she identified some serious flaws in the country's judicial system that subsequently contributed to the conviction of three Al-Jazeera journalists now jailed in Cairo.

In an interview with the Guardian after the appeal hearing of the journalists this week, Clooney, a lawyer for one of the trio, said they were victims of the same flaws that she earmarked in a February 2014 report about Egyptian courts.

Written before Clooney became involved in the Al-Jazeera case, officials deemed the report so controversial that they threatened her team with arrest should they have tried to present its findings inside Egypt.

The report, compiled on behalf of the International Bar Association, said Egypt’s judicial system was not as independent as it could be.

It pointed out that officials in the ministry of justice have wide powers over nominally independent judges, and highlighted the control the government can exert over state prosecutors.

Among other recommendations, Clooney and her co-authors suggested ending the practice that allows Egyptian officials to handpick judges for certain politicised cases.