Earlier this month two lawyers attacked physically a prosecutor who attacked them verbally , the judges got very angry from this attack and the lawyers got defensive. The Judges' club is furious over the attack from the lawyers and the lawyers went too far with their protests that reached in to occupying the prosecutor's office in some Nile Delta Governorate. Things got out of control when a court sentenced the two lawyers 5 years in jail each. Despite what we think about the verdict , we thought that this would be the end but we were wrong because it was just a start of a big saga.
The lawyers believe that they are the victims criminalizing the judges and the judges believe they are the victims criminalizing the lawyers. It has become a daily routine to find a daily segment or section about that war between lawyers and judges in Egyptian channels and newspapers.
The lawyers of course are escalating the matter with sit ins and protests and their verbal attacks on judges. Already they are having a strike in the Egyptian courts and many of the hot lawsuits in the country have been adjourned accordingly like for instance the Suzanne Tamim's murder last week.
Many high profile personalities in the societies tried to meditate between the two parties like Dr. Fathi Sorror but of course in vain.
Now there are certain points that caught my attention in this on going war :
- Magically the lawyers have forgotten the law the NDP regime wants to pass in their bar concerning the isolation of the Bar's chairman as it wants to continue controlling it. Hamdi Khalifa , the Bar's chairman is the regime's man and the lawyers before that war with judges were working on isolating him after his proposal to amend the chairman's isolation law.
- This on going war is happening in very critical time , the elections time.
- Judge Ahmed El-Zend , the head of the judges' club with my all due respect is the regime's man too.
I do not know why I have the feeling that the regime is behind that dirty war or at least enlarging more than its original size. The fact that both Khalifa and El-Zend are from the regime men makes me uncomfortable with their intention after all.
Now I have read this weekend that 450,000 lawyers are planning to have a march to the presidential palace in order to ask their rights back from the President himself !!!! This is very disgusting with my all respect to all lawyers but they have left and ignored all what we suffer from in Egypt from dictatorship , corruption and dictatorship and suddenly remembered their lost dignity when two of them hit another man because he insulted them verbally !! Are they serious !!?? Those 450,000 lawyers should respect their job and its message for real and defend the rights of the poor and the weak in this country , they should march to demand a judicial supervision on the elections not an apology from judges , they should march to demand constitutional changes for God sake !!
I swear if 450,000 Egyptian march to the Orba Presidential Palace , in 24 hours our life in Egypt will be different.
Of course I know they are bluffing and they can't have this march , but the fact that last week we found thousands of lawyers protesting the sentence of their co-lawyers , makes me wonder why do not we see those thousands of lawyers protesting for Khaled Said and what has happened to him !!??
Back to the presidential palace I will not be surprised if Mubarak interferes at the end where we will find El-Zend and Khalifa kissing each other and Mubarak at the back of the picture smiling after saving the day as usual.
dear Zenobia
ReplyDeleteyou said "two lawyers attacked physically a prosecutor who attacked them verbally"
As far as I know, it is not the complete truth. A lawyer entered a prosecutor's office without his permission. They had an argument and the prosecutor slapped the lawyer. The prosecuotor (and the police) took the lawyer to the higher prosecutor (mo7ami 3am) and there 2 lawyers slapped the prosecutor as a revenge. As a consequence they were prosecuted and sentenced to 5 years in less than 4 days.
Lawyers are furious because the prosecutor was not punished. It is a problem of equity.
Of course everybody tries to act according to his interest. But It is obvious that there are huge problems in the judicary system in Egypt.
Finally, I really thank you for this blog. It was like a discovery for me, and I really appreciate it.
Thank you twice , for your kind words and for giving me a full picture to what happened there , it is unfair for sure but do not you agree that it is being enlarged from Khalifa who is using it to increase his declined popularity in the bar.
ReplyDeleteactually the lawyer and the prosecutor apparently used to be good friends and no you wont probably read this any where. Something happened and the guards with the prosecutor beat the lawyer after the 2 men exchanged verbal insults, reportedly started by the prosecutor not the lawyer. When they moved to the officer of a higher rank prosecutor the lawyer slapped the prosecutor.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that those who are not in the legal field need to understand is that there are a lot of issues others in the profession hold against the prosecutors and the judges. Its not a secret how most find their way to their jobs and to be honest if you ask the graduates of every class you will find a good % of classmates who didnt get good grades but still made it to these high offices while others who were more deserving at least on merits were set aside. There is also the issue of internal fighting bet judges and how the name of a son could be taken out bec someone up there aint happy with his father or relative who is a fellow judge. No one is allowed to openly discuss that form of twisted corruption in the judiciary and the worst thing is that their kids act so entitled and of course those among us who know the truth cant help but think how could a judge be fair while he himself twists the rules of fairness when his son or daughter is involved?!!
Im not saying lawyers are angles nope but apparently those who are supposed to be above all have forgotten their true message or at least a good percentage of them 7'osara