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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The Bar besieged
By Mona El-NahhasThe situation has been escalating at the Bar Association since last Thursday, when security forces shut down the headquarters of the syndicate to prevent lawyers from holding an extraordinary general assembly. Security men, who sealed off the downtown headquarters in response to a request from one of the custodians, said the syndicate would be reopened after Eid Al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice holiday that begins on Saturday and ends on Tuesday.
Lawyers, although divided into two groups since last Thursday, agreed that they should put an end to the three-year-old sequestration imposed upon their syndicate. They decided to set aside their disagreements and think of the best way of "liberating" their syndicate.
The custodians were also divided, with one of them opposing the shutting down of the syndicate. "Lawyers have every right to hold meetings inside their syndicate, regardless of their legality," said Hassan El-Mahdi, one of the custodians. El-Mahdi told Al-Ahram Weekly that his colleague, Ahmed Reda Ghatwari, now in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, is the person responsible for closing the syndicate. "From the very beginning, I stood firmly against shutting down the syndicate. This is my position and I will not change it," he said. El-Mahdi stressed the need to hold elections to put an end to Ghatwari's "irresponsible acts, which exceeded all permissible limits."
Last Thursday the streets leading to the syndicate resembled a battlefield. Armoured vehicles of the Central Security Forces surrounded the syndicate's headquarters on Abdel-Khaleq Sarwat Street. Large numbers of security men, wearing helmets and backed by police dogs, were much in evidence.
Having failed to reach the syndicate, more than 1,000 lawyers headed towards 26th of July Street to hold the meeting at the syndicate's Cairo chapter, located in the High Court of Justice. But the situation there was even worse. The building was sealed off by security men, who prevented lawyers from entering.
The lawyers had no choice but to hold their meeting on the street, bringing downtown traffic to a complete standstill. They shouted, protesting at the intervention of security forces in their syndicate's affairs as well as the delay in holding syndicate elections.
Lawyers insisted that their meeting was legal, even though it was held outside syndicate headquarters. They maintained that the required quorum for the general assembly, which is 1,500, had been reached. "Preventing lawyers from entering their syndicate is illegality in the true sense of the word," declared Mohamed Rizq, an elderly lawyer.
The assembled lawyers decided to form an interim committee to take over the syndicate from the custodians and open the way for elections by preparing lists of voters. But there was pandemonium when Sameh Ashour, a Nasserist MP and a candidate for the post of syndicate chairman, read out the names of the committee's 10 members. This enraged the majority of the assembled lawyers, who accused Ashour of engineering a conspiracy and of deceiving them. They said Ashour's list included the names of custodians in charge of three syndicate chapters in Suez, Beheira and Kafr Al-Sheikh.
They then declared allegiance to another committee, headed by prominent lawyer Mohamed Asfour and including independent lawyers, which was formed in May 1997 following an earlier general assembly. Ashour left for his office, located on the same street, and held a press conference to defend his position. Ashour insisted that members of his committee were not custodians, but elected chairmen of branch syndicates, MPs and university professors of law. Moreover, he claimed that his committee won the approval of the majority of the assembled lawyers and would take over the syndicate as soon as the security men left.
Left with no choice, lawyers held their meeting on the street
photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid
Ashour said that he would submit an interpellation (a question that must be answered) in parliament to the Interior Ministry about the action of the security forces against lawyers. "Such behaviour," he said, "reveals the government's attitude towards elections. It has become very clear that the government will never allow fair elections to take place at the Bar Association."
For their part, the second group of lawyers standing in the street said that they would never acknowledge a committee of custodians.
The meeting ended around 1pm, after Asfour's group decided to hold another general assembly on 20 April. "If we were banned from doing this, we would start a general work stoppage, a hunger strike and a sit-in strike," said Ahmed Nasser, another candidate for the post of syndicate chairman. Nasser stated that their legitimate struggle for liberating the Bar Association would never stop.
On Saturday, Ashour's committee held its first meeting and discussed ways of restoring the independence of the Bar Association. Ashour told Al-Ahram Weekly that the committee's meetings would continue until "we take back our syndicate."
On Tuesday, the two rival candidates met with around 200 lawyers at the Cairo Northern Court to decide on their next steps. Although the meeting was tense, lawyers agreed that unity was the best means of resolving the current crisis. They concluded that although each of the two candidates has his own position, they have only one target, namely, restoring the independence of the Bar Association.
Raga'i Attiya, said to be the government candidate for the post of chairman, called for the setting up of a body which should act as a "salvation committee". Such a committee, he said, should include all candidates as well as renowned figures with different political affiliations. "We should put aside our electoral interests and think of a way out. This can be done only if we stand as one, instead of forming several conflicting committees," he said. Attiya said that the "salvation committee" should conduct a long dialogue with the custodians "who are our colleagues." Attiya's suggestion did not get the approval of lawyers. "We have two committees already -- why start forming a new one?" lawyers shouted.
Ashour said that the time had come for decisive action and that further dialogue was meaningless now. He insisted that last Thursday's formation of an interim committee was the right step. Ashour said that the committee will take over the syndicate as soon as the security forces leave. His announcement was met with applause from the assembled lawyers. Finally, Nasser, though criticising the formation of Ashour's committee, expressed readiness to shake hands with Ashour if this would help solve the crisis.
