A press conference held by the acting chairman of the Giza Bar Association deteriorated into a shouting match between opponents and proponents of the Muslim Brotherhood last Friday. Aboul Naga el-Mehrezi, undersecretary and acting chairman of the Giza Bar Association, leveled several accusations at the Brotherhood, which led to sharp responses from Brotherhood supporters. El-Mehrezi charged the Brotherhood with spoiling and weakening the Lawyer's Syndicate, while Brotherhood supporters denied the accusations. The Brotherhood has succeeded in dividing lawyers according to their affiliations, said el-Mehrezi, adding "I am neither with Ashour, nor Khalifa, and I do not care about either of them. I am for the dignity of lawyers." El-Mehrezi exposed a number of alleged financial violations, including checks made out to contracting companies, such as a LE1.5 million check made out to the Fateh Company. The Secretary General of the Bar Association and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Fathi el-Bahnasawi dismissed el-Mehrezi's accusations as entirely false, and added that el-Mehrezi is only the acting chairman of the Bar Association. "El-Mehrezi has been undersecretary of the Giza Bar Association over the last two sessions but he has not assumed any syndicate-related responsibilities. Besides, the legal tenure of the council has ended, so he cannot be promoted to the position of chairman," he added. In addressing the charges leveled by the acting chairman, el-Bahnasawi denied that books worth LE4 million had disappeared from the Giza Bar Association stores. After Brotherhood members began chanting during the conference, el-Mehrezi ended the meeting and vowed to hold another press conference to address alleged violations by the Brotherhood in a residential neighborhood. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
