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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424
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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 Bar crisis drags on
By Mona El-Nahhas
For the third successive week, security men are maintaining the shutdown of the Bar Association's headquarters in central Cairo, causing a complete disruption of work there.
The syndicate was closed in response to a request by one of three court-appointed custodians. He asked security bodies to intervene and prevent lawyers from holding an extraordinary general assembly on 18 March. As a result, lawyers held the assembly in the street, but have failed to achieve the reopening of the syndicate since then.
Armoured vehicles of the Central Security Forces are still positioned outside the syndicate's building, and high-ranking police officers there said they intend to stay put for a while.
Lawyers view the current situation as "ridiculous" and have continued to hold meetings to decide what should be done to liberate their syndicate from the three-year-old sequestration.
Sameh Ashour, a Nasserist MP and a candidate for the post of syndicate chairman, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he submitted on Sunday an interpellation (a question that must be answered) in parliament to Interior Minister Habib El-Adli about the action of the security forces. "Our efforts will not stop until we put an end to this silly and unprecedented situation," Ashour said.
The Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession issued a statement recently, urging world legal organisations, particularly the International Committee of Jurists, to intervene and help find a solution to the crisis. The statement warned the government about the consequences of closing down the Bar Association saying it could lead to acts of violence by lawyers. The centre also warned that the shutting down of the syndicate could result in a complete breakdown of the legal profession and said that it had already led to a disruption of services, such as the collection of subscriptions and payment of monthly pensions which have stopped.
Although they share one target, namely the restoration of the independence of the Bar Association, lawyers have acted without coordination. This has resulted from internal splits that have worsened since the 18 March general assembly. Lawyers have broken into several groups: a group backing Sameh Ashour, a group standing behind Ahmed Nasser, a Wafdist MP and candidate for the post of syndicate chairman, a third group supporting the government candidate Ragai Atteya, and a fourth group taking the side of Abdel-Aziz Mohamed, former chairman of the syndicate's Cairo chapter.
The power struggle is mainly between Nasser and Ashour. Nasser does not acknowledge the interim committee which Ashour established during the 18 March assembly to take charge of the syndicate. He has accused Ashour of engineering a conspiracy and deceiving lawyers, claiming the interim committee included custodians in charge of three syndicate chapters in Suez, Beheira and Kafr Al-Sheikh. Nasser 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. Failing to take over the syndicate, Asfour had no choice but to appeal to the courts. He filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court, which decided on Monday to delay hearings until 26 April. Ashour criticised Asfour's committee, arguing that it did nothing to end the crisis.
The internal divisions have had ramifications. Atteya and his group insist that a peaceful dialogue with the custodians is the best means of resolving the syndicate's crisis. "They are our colleagues in the first place and it would be logical to negotiate with them," he said.
Asfour's group rejects dialogue and prefers litigation. "As lawyers we have no weapon but legality. We cannot do anything in violation of the law," Asfour told a news conference on Monday.
For its part, Ashour's group believes that liberating the syndicate requires some type of "revolutionary action," such as a general work stoppage in all courts.
Internal splits have also led to conflicting decisions. Ashour said lawyers will enter the headquarters of the syndicate and take it over as soon as security forces leave. Nasser said that lawyers will stage a sit-in strike on 20 April at the headquarters. If they fail to enter their syndicate, the sit-in will be staged at the syndicate's Cairo chapter. But Abdel-Aziz Mohamed announced that the association's dissolved council will take over the branch syndicate next week.
