A draft law increasing litigation fees has angered lawyers across the country, Mona El-Nahhas reports It was a week of protests by lawyers in Egypt's provinces. Sit-ins, symbolic work stoppages and protest marches were all organised to press for the scrapping of a draft law concerning litigation fees from the People's Assembly. The draft, recently submitted to parliament by Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei, doubles litigation fees paid to courts by plaintiffs 10 fold. According to Marei, the aim of the draft was to upgrade the performance of the courts. On Tuesday, while discussing articles of the draft law in the PA, Marei agreed to introduce minor amendments to the draft in which fees will be doubled only five-fold. Marei's decision was welcomed by MPs belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). However, lawyers are still unhappy. "What Marei did is not enough for us," said leftist lawyer Ahmed Qenawi from the committee recently formed opposing the draft. "We'll continue with all the protests we've been making since Thursday," Qenawi told Al-Ahram Weekly. In this connection, lawyers insisted on not ending their one-week sit-in. "Deciding to end the strike depends on the response of parliament to our demands," Qenawi said. Lawyers are planning to meet at the People's Assembly's Pharaonic Hall within days to announce their total rejection of the draft law. Marei's draft was widely objected to by lawyers on the ground that it violates the principle of equality, that low-income families do not have the financial capability to appeal to courts to obtain their rights. According to Qenawi, plaintiffs will be asked to pay around LE5,000 in compensation cases. In the existing law, litigation fees do not exceed LE50. Protests reached their height on Tuesday when hundreds of lawyers staged a work stoppage throughout Egypt. On Saturday, a bigger work stoppage was due to be staged. At the headquarters of the Bar Association, dozens of lawyers organised a protest which included opposition leader Ayman Nour, founder of the liberal Ghad Party, who was released from jail last week. At a press conference, former chairman of the Bar Association Sameh Ashour announced that 90 per cent of lawyers had responded to the call for a work stoppage. Courts in Sharqiya, Daqahliya, Beheira, Beni Sweif, Minya, Luxor and Aswan were virtually paralysed after a vast majority of lawyers refrained from attending sessions. "Lawyers appealed to respectable means of expression to convey their opinions," Ashour said during the conference. "All options will be open before the lawyers," Ashour added, noting that an emergency general assembly is scheduled during the next 48 hours "to discuss this law of ill-repute." In a statement issued by a group of Nasserist lawyers, the draft was severely criticised for violating articles 40, 68 and 69 of the constitution. According to lawyer Fatemah Rabie, the aim of the new draft is to solve the financial crisis of the Cairo Judges Club after reformist judges lost in club polls. "The government felt it was the time to reward judges after judges belonging to the governmental camp finally managed to bring under control the affairs of the club," Rabie said. "The government should stop referring legislation to parliament without even consulting whoever is concerned," Islamist lawyer Gamal Tageddin said, adding that the law should have been first referred to the Bar Association which would then have heard lawyers' opinions before sending it to parliament. According to Tageddin, lawyers will be affected by such legislation if it is endorsed by the PA. Lawyer Nasser Amin from the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Profession of Law warned of legislation that would prevent ordinary citizens from appealing to legal channels to obtain their rights. Amin views the new draft as privatising the judiciary and turning courts into private property owned by the rich. He did not exclude the possibility of President Hosni Mubarak intervening at the last minute and scrapping the law. Previous incidents of presidential intervention to settle particularly controversial issues has become the norm. "But such a move would undermine the independence of institutions in Egypt and reveal that all powers are placed in the hands of the president," Amin said.
