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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Deadlock at the Bar
By Mona El-NahhasWhile lawyers were optimistic that Bar Association elections would take place later this month in line with a ruling by the Court of Cassation, they were nevertheless surprised by a decree which extended for three months the judicial supervision imposed on their syndicate. The decree was issued on Saturday by Councillor Wahid Mahmoud, chairman of the judicial committee charged with running the association's affairs after the Court of Cassation ended in October a three-year-old sequestration period.
The committee's legal mandate to organise elections will end in April but its chairman announced that more time was needed for revising the lists of voters. Accordingly, he decided to prolong the committee's supervision of the association for three more months, up until 24 July. The decree was submitted to Justice Minister Farouk Seif El-Nasr for ratification.
But on Sunday Seif El-Nasr declared he had no intention of ratifying the decree on the grounds that he had no jurisdiction to do so.
Lawyers view the decision as illegal and unjustified, saying neither the head of the judicial committee nor even the minister of justice himself have the right to violate court rulings. And since the Court of Cassation set a deadline for the committee to complete its work, everyone should respect the deadline, they added.
Lawyers vowed to contest the decree with the Administrative Court. "We will act immediately because the decree is completely illegal," said Islamist lawyer Fatema Rabie, who previously won a lawsuit that ended the association's sequestration. Rabie said she would start legal procedures after acquiring a copy of the decree issued by the judicial committee's chairman. Lawyers will also meet at the association's headquarters today to decide what action should be taken to put an end to what they believe is a government policy of deliberately delaying elections.
Lawyers argue that the committee made its move after the government realised that Bar Association elections could not be rigged because lawyers would never allow the government to impose its candidate on them.
Lawyers recently expressed opposition to alleged government interference after the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) threw its weight behind Raga'i Atteya as Bar Association chairman and nominated 14 other lawyers, all members of the NDP, to compete for the 24 seats in the association's council.
"What happened should have been expected," said Wafdist lawyer Ahmed Nasser, who is running for the post of chairman. "I told you from the very beginning that there will be no elections as long as the results are not in the government's favour," Nasser said.
"The two choices before us are just as bad," leftist lawyer Mohamed El-Damati, said. "We have to either accept rigged elections or else elections will never take place. This is how the government deals with the Bar Association issue which apparently has reached a deadlock," El-Damati said.
