Cairo Criminal Court said its final say in the case of the killing of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim. It also rejected lawsuits filed by four lawyers having nothing to do with the case's parties. These lawyers filed lawsuits in their capacity as citizens representing the society, which was affected by the crime. Therefore, they joined the plaintiffs and called on Tamim's killers to pay compensations. I cannot deny that I was happy and gloated when I knew that the court also forced the four lawyers to pay the judicial expenses and LE 200 as fees. After failing to get compensations, every one of the four lawyers has to look for a person to lend him LE 300 to pay the expenses and the fees. The four lawyers were among a great number of lawyers who found Tamim's cases – due to the fame of the victim and the defendants and the circumstances of the crime – as an opportunity to join the defense or the plaintiffs, who received generous sums of dollars and sterling pounds from the defendants. Therefore, the four lawyers wore their robes and carried their books of law in an attempt to get compensations! Even after some lucky persons joined the defense and the plaintiffs, these lawyers did not feel despair. They started to look for another piece in this "cake". There has been media hype about this case due to the fame and positions of the defendants. The audio and visual media used this case to fill the newspaper's pages and TV satellite channels' with hours of transmission. After failing to join the defense, the four lawyers decided not to withdraw from the case, which may be their rise to fame because it is followed by hundreds of journalists, cameras, and satellite channels. They thought they would be great lawyers if their names, photos, conversations, arguments and addresses of their offices were published in papers and TV channels. They dreamt to join the defense and get considerable commission. If they joined the defense, they would hang a huge banner on the doors of their offices saying, "We are lawyer at the Appeal Court, the State's Council and the case of Suzanne Tamim!"
A great number of lawyers filed lawsuits against defendants Mohsen el-Sukary and Hisham Talaat Mustafa because they assassinated Tamim. El-Sukary became an officer at the expense of the people. He traveled to foreign countries to be trained on how to counter terrorism. Mustafa got thousands of acres owned by the people at low prices to build new urban communities. After that, they used the money of the people to fund their chase of a girl in three continents. Therefore, the lawyers representing the people have the right to call for compensations and hear the testimony of the ministers and officials to know how many pounds were spent on the two defendants. No sooner did the Court ban the publication of the case and deny cameras access to the courtroom than this great number of lawyers withdrew from the case. At first, they were unlucky when they failed to join the defense. After that, they were also unlucky when the court issued a publication ban, thus denying them of the free propaganda!
I know that the legal profession has its traditions and rules that do not allow lawyers to publish advertisements threatening lawyers' dignity. Therefore, the question now is: Why hasn't the Bar Association taken an action against these lawyers, who abuse the right of litigation and file religious and political lawsuits they know well that they would be rejected? In fact, they waste the time of the judiciary. I also know that journalism has traditions and rules that do not allow journalists to deceive the readers by shedding light on certain figures. They know well that they search for a false reputation or try to blackmail the others. Why haven't these media men been punished for wasting the time of the judiciary?
