The dispute between lawyers and judges is escalating, reports Reem Leila The current crisis between lawyers and judges looks set to continue until a compromise is reached. Lawyers across Egypt have been striking in solidarity with two of their colleagues who on 8 June were sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting a Tanta prosecutor. Most of the country's courts have been paralysed ever since lawyers began their strike on 9 June. Hundreds of cases have been postponed until the beginning of the new judicial year in October. The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) announced on Monday its solidarity with the judges against acts of intimidation by lawyers. The SJC, which held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, described in a statement the recent incident as "unfortunate". The statement also blamed lawyers for violence and destroying public property. The statement called on lawyers to end the crisis as well as their strike. "Lawyers should put an end to their strike soon because people will be the only victims. This is unfair," the statement added. In a further development, 800 judges and prosecutors have filed a complaint to Prosecutor-General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud accusing the head of the Bar Association Hamdi Khalifa and prominent Islamist lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, a member of the Bar Association's board, of "offending" prosecutors and judges as well as urging lawyers to protest. They also complained that lawyers had stormed into a Tanta courthouse with the intention of damaging public property. According to Judge Ahmed Zahran a member of the board of the Judges Club, the Judges General Assembly will meet within the next few days to discuss how to reach a decision by which all judges and public prosecutors will abide by. Zahran believes that lawyers have exaggerated the issue by striking and demonstrating. "Lawyers always overreact and amplify any trivial conflict. They want to deliver a false image to the public that they are being mistreated and not being respected by the judges and prosecutors and this is not the case," stated Zahran. In response to the judges' complaints, more than 10,000 lawyers have complained to Mahmoud, accusing Ahmed El-Zend, head of the Judges Club, Ahmed Zahran, a member of the board of the Judges Club and Ahmed El-Sehemi, head of the Tanta Judges Club, of "humiliating and oppressing" lawyers. "The verdict was unfair," said Tarek El-Awadi, a member of the Bar Association. "It is an unprecedented incident in our judiciary system to convict lawyers for assaulting a prosecutor without a real trial. Both lawyers were sentenced to five years in jail in a one-day trial without any lawyer defending them, El-Awadi added. Accordingly, thousands of lawyers held a general strike beginning last week nationwide. The lawyers' stance was supported by head of the Bar Association Hamdi Khalifa. The saga began 10 days ago when lawyers Mohamed Ibrahim Saadeddin and Mustafa Ahmed Fattouh exchanged punches with prosecutor Bassem Radwan Abu El-Rous two weeks ago. Supporters of Saadeddin and Fattouh said Abu El-Rous, who was not arrested, should have also been charged with assault. Lawyers expressed their disappointment at the judges for acting as opponents and arbitrators at the same time. Both Fattouh and Saadeddin said they were insulted and attacked by the prosecutor first. In an attempt to reach a compromise, People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour mediated between both parties but failed. Sorour, along with MPs Omar Haridi and Talaat El-Sadat, held one meeting with Khalifa and another with El-Zend. None of Sorour's suggestions were found acceptable. Khalifa told the press he will resort to President Hosni Mubarak to intervene if no resolution was reached soon. "Lawyers should be granted immunity to allow them to practise their profession without discrimination by judges," stated Khalifa. The only solution which lawyers will accept to end the current crisis is to have the jailed lawyers immediately released, he added. El-Sadat agreed with Khalifa. "Lawyers have been suffering from prosecutors' disrespect for long years and what happened in Tanta was the last straw." El-Sadat said lawyers have been tolerating being humiliated by judges for decades. Prosecutors and judges enjoy all the privileges while lawyers are always disadvantaged. They keep begging outside their offices for their work to be completed. "There should not be any compromise. Jailed lawyers should be released first, then a code of dealing with lawyers should be created in order to guarantee the judges' and prosecutors' respect for lawyers," argued El-Sadat. In response to a request by El-Sadat and Khalifa, El-Zend stated that an imminent release of Saadeddin and Fattouh is unlikely. "They have assaulted a public employee while performing his duty and this is a crime they should be punished for," El-Zend said. For the time being, lawyers continue to strike, threatening to march from the Bar Association's Downtown headquarters to the presidential palace to ask the president to intervene.
