CAIRO: The steps of the Lawyers' Syndicate will witness another protest today as members of the "Committee of the 100 continue to demand a speedy review of the syndicate voters' register by the Judicial Committee. The protest, which comes on the heels of another protest held Monday, will be among a series of weekly demonstrations leading to a nationwide strike, said Ali Kasha, a member of the committee. "The purpose of this protest is two-fold, said Kasha. "First, we are standing by our colleagues in Ismailia, who are staging a general strike, and second, we are pressing the Judicial Committee to finish examining the voting registers. The Committee of the 100 says that it is standing up to everyone responsible for imposing judicial "guardianship on the syndicate, he said. The local press had reported on Tuesday that the committee announced its plans to compile a "black list of lawyers who "betrayed the syndicate and contributed to the delay of the syndicate elections with their "false reports. The Lawyers' Syndicate elections, which were scheduled for Jan. 18, were halted three days prior to the scheduled date with a decision from Cairo's Administrative Court. The decision was based on a Judicial Committee's report that the voting register included errors such as incorrect addresses and names of some lawyers as well as the names of deceased lawyers. Kasha said the examination of the register should not exceed one month. He and other committee members are concerned that lawyers have been unable to gain access to syndicate services since the Judicial Committee was assigned to supervise the syndicate. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Mohamed Tousson agrees that the absence of a syndicate board is hindering access to syndicate services, particularly health services. "Anyone who tries to obstruct the elections should indeed be placed on a black list, said Tousson. However, Tousson felt the examination of the voting register was progressing smoothly and hoped it would be completed in one month. Meanwhile, Ragai Attiya, one of the candidates for syndicate chairmanship, called the protests "a show designed to steal attention away from the "catastrophes discovered in the faulty voting registers, which he says were a result of foul play. Attiya also asserted that these faulty registers have been used for years for vote rigging, pointing fingers of blame at "those who have been in the syndicate for eight years.
