Amal Clooney threatened with arrest over criticism of Egyptian legal system

Amal Clooney was recently threatened with arrest by Egyptians officials after giving a report which points out flaws in the country's judicial system and ultimately led to conviction of al-Jazeera journalists now jailed in Cairo.

Human rights barrister recommended that that Egypt end the practice that allows officials to handpick judges for certain politicized cases, the Guardian reported.

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.

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.

The three journalists; Peter Greste, Baher Mohamed, and Mohamed Fahmy, whom Clooney represents, were initially sentenced to between seven and 10 years in jail last June by the controversial Egyptian judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata.

Clooney has concluded that they have to continue and double theirefforts to achieve his release in other ways and unfortunately they have to conclude that they can't rely on these Egyptian court processes to achieve a fair or swift result.