Eight years after their syndicate was sequestered, engineers have begun taking serious steps to try and lift the siege. Mona El-Nahhas reports A great many members of the Engineers Syndicate, which has been under judicial sequestration for eight years, are starting to think it's about time for "liberation". Syndicate members have embarked on an intensive course of peaceful negotiations and legal appeals in order to get their professional body functioning properly again. The syndicate was put under judicial sequestration in 1995 after the syndicate's 67-member council, which was dominated by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was charged with committing financial infringements. Observers believe the current campaign to revitalise the syndicate is being engineered by Islamists, albeit in a rather discreet manner. Steps that have been taken thus far include the drawing up of plans to file a lawsuit at the Administrative Court against the recent decision by Irrigation Minister Mahmoud Abu Zeid (who, according to the syndicate law, is in charge of supervising syndicate affairs) forbidding the holding of an emergency general assembly. Abu Zeid's decision was in response to a memorandum signed by 1,600 engineers calling for an emergency general assembly to discuss ways to lift the sequestration and hold elections. In a clear case of catch-22, the request was rejected on the grounds that general assemblies could not be held while the syndicate is still under sequestration. Muslim Brother Mohamed Ali Beshr, a former syndicate secretary-general, said the minister's attitude was nothing but "a new government obstacle meant to hinder the syndicate's liberation. There is no article in the law that bans the holding of general assemblies during sequestration," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. The same request was sent to Ahmed Moharam and Aziz Yassin, the two court-appointed custodians responsible for running the syndicate's affairs while it is under sequestration. Yassin and Moharam -- both of whom are in their 90s -- ended up referring the memorandum to the chairman of the South Cairo Court and the judicial committee for professional syndicates, the body responsible for organising syndicate elections in accordance with 1993's Law 100. Mustafa Ramadan, assigned by the aging custodians to act as executive secretary-general, told the Weekly that the legal body did not reply to the forwarded request. "This is not the first request to be shelved. Over eight years of sequestration, dozens of similar requests have been submitted to the South Cairo Court, with no answers forthcoming," he said. Ramadan said the custodians are not opposed to ending the sequestration; they are just not authorised to make that kind of decision. "Their only job is to run the syndicate's administrative affairs and prepare electoral lists," he said. Engineers who spoke to the Weekly are certain their struggle for "liberation" will not be easy, and will require continuous pressure, as well as constant contacts with officials. "Engineers belonging to different political trends, including members of the ruling National Democratic Party, need to contact officials in an attempt to assure the government that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood will not dominate the syndicate council in any coming elections," Beshr said. The contacts must go hand in hand with legal manoeuvres, Beshr said. "We'll file a lawsuit calling for an end to the sequestration, and we hope to get a just ruling. We know the legal route is not smooth, but we should pursue every possible means until we reach our goal." According to Abul-Ela Madi, the syndicate's former deputy secretary- general, and a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, individual efforts will not be helpful at this stage. "Every one of the syndicate's 250,000 members must move, so as to give the impression that we act as a united front." Beshr said the sudden surge in activity was mainly catalysed by the custodians' poor performance. "Services have deteriorated and corruption has prevailed, both of which are threatening the profession." According to Beshr, the fact that the Bar Association's sequestration was lifted in February 2000 and a new council elected there provided the engineers with "a glimpse of hope that we may do the same". Analysts, however, attribute the sudden movement to the fact that top Muslim Brotherhood members of the former syndicate council, such as Beshr and Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Hussein, have recently been released from prison, where they were serving sentences ranging from three to five years for being members of the outlawed group. Although they are currently working from behind the scenes, analysts predict that if the sequestration is lifted, they will increase their visible involvement in the syndicate' affairs, and especially its elections. According to Madi, the financial infringement charge that provided the basis for the sequestration was groundless. "The aim was to get rid of the brotherhood," he said. The blame for the delayed elections, Madi said, should also be placed on Law 100, which Madi said should be abolished. One of the law's fundamental defects, he said, was its stipulation that half of a syndicate's members must vote in order to reach the legal quorum. "In a big syndicate like ours," said Madi, "that is very difficult to achieve. Thus, elections end up being infinitely delayed."
