The cabinet has succeeded in ending the judges-lawyers crisis Mona El-Nahhas sees how the dispute was settled On Tuesday afternoon, it was officially announced that the three-week crisis which erupted between judges and lawyers as a result of a new judiciary draft law has been settled. The announcement came in the wake of a meeting between Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) Hossam El-Gheriani and a group of lawyers. It was certainly a sudden shift -- representatives of the two groups who for the last three weeks have done nothing but attack each other verbally and with guns -- now exchanging smiles and pleasantries and shaking hands before TV cameras, as if nothing ever happened. "A new page has been turned," Sharaf announced. A joint statement issued by the group, which used much rhetoric, did not deal with the controversial articles in a draft law which started the dispute nor did it mention a specific and immediate plan for safeguarding courts against acts of violence. The statement attributed recent incidents of courthouses being ransacked, reportedly by lawyers who were protesting, to "some litigants". According to lawyer Mohamed El-Damati, rapporteur of the Bar Association Freedoms Committee, it was agreed that an amendment of the judiciary law would be delayed until the election of a new parliament which will then endorse the legislation. During the meeting, El-Damati said it was also agreed that a committee including its member judges and prominent lawyers will be formed to draft four controversial articles which had angered lawyers. Following the meeting, El-Gheriani stated that the draft law was just draft copies submitted by several bodies. "The draft has not been presented to the SJC so far. After receiving the draft, it will be subject to discussion," El-Gheriani said. Although the crisis was said to be over, the cabinet was strongly criticised for being too late in its mediation efforts. Since the start of the crisis, the cabinet stood by as a bystander. Lawyers blocked courts and attacked judges who in turn called for a work stoppage. Emergency general assemblies were held by each party, with fiery recommendations issued and verbal clashes exchanged. Protest marches and sit-ins were held daily by lawyers to press for withdrawing the draft law, which they argued, included articles that humiliate lawyers and deprive them of their rights. It was only on Sunday that Sharaf met with El-Gheriani and chairman of the Cairo Judges Club Ahmed El-Zend to discuss ways of containing the crisis. A similar meeting with a group of lawyers was held on Monday. Ali El-Silmi, deputy prime minister, described the judges-lawyers crisis as being fabricated. "Dishonest elements which do not belong to the profession of law and similar elements from the judiciary body meddled in the issue and stirred up strife between the two sides of justice," El-Silmi said during the meeting with lawyers on Monday. Just a few hours before the reconciliation, the crisis seemed far from reaching a solution with the two sides ready and willing to exacerbate the situation. The heated situation reached boiling point on Friday. A group of lawyers headed towards the downtown Higher Judiciary House, where judges were holding their emergency general assembly to press for safeguarding courts and for passing the new judiciary law which lawyers strongly opposed. News of lawyers blocking the building, and of judges firing shots in the air to disperse the lawyers were reported on Friday evening. Following the Friday battle, lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, a chairmanship candidate in the 20 November polls of the Bar Association, hurried to the office of Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud to file a complaint against judges who fired shots at lawyers, injuring two of them. Judge Mahmoud El-Sherif, spokesman of the Judges Club denied shots were fired at lawyers, noting that if it happened it was in self-defence. "Lawyers still insist upon flagrantly violating legitimacy," El-Sherif was quoted as saying. Judge Ahmed Mekki, head of the judicial committee assigned by the SJC to draft the new judiciary law, told Al-Ahram Weekly on Tuesday morning that the current crisis is groundless. "All articles of the new draft are just suggestions and are still subject to discussion. We invited lawyers to submit their own views. There was no need for all this," Mekki said. "The aim is to prevent judges from becoming independent," said Mekki who lawyers prevented from leaving the building of the Higher Judiciary House following the Friday general assembly. "The statement issued by the cabinet late last week made it clear that there is no intention of giving the judiciary its long- sought independence," Mekki said. The statement, which was hailed by lawyers as ending the crisis, angered judges. In it, the cabinet denied receiving any draft laws regarding the amendment of the current law regulating the judiciary authority. The statement stressed that the suggested draft law would not be passed before being endorsed by the next parliament. Attempting to calm things down, the statement urged the necessity of safeguarding courts and maintaining the sacredness of the judiciary. The statement also condemned incidents of blocking courts, attacking judges and assaulting courtrooms. The four articles in the new draft, which angered lawyers were topped by Article 18 which allows the presiding judge to imprison anyone, including lawyers themselves, during the hearing of lawsuits should there be any transgression. Articles 132 and 133 which described lawyers as being aides of judges were vehemently objected to by lawyers. Lawyers also referred to Article 47 which limits the maximum number of lawyers who can work for the appeals courts and who want to join the judiciary. The maximum was changed to 20 per cent. During Friday's general assembly, the cabinet statement was strongly criticised by the judges. "The government decided to delay the issuance of the law after it failed to protect courts from lawyer thuggery," said judge Zaghloul El-Belshi during the assembly which ended with a renewed call to suspend work in courthouses until security was guaranteed. Boycotting the judicial supervision of this month's parliamentary polls was one of the pressure cards judges threatened to use during the assembly. However, during the reconciliation meeting, El-Gheriani stressed that judges will play their role in supervising polls "which is part of their greatest role in their country."
