CAIRO: Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei met with Fathi Sorour, speaker of the People's Assembly, to discuss the recently approved law increasing fees for filing lawsuits, as lawyers continue to protest the controversial law. Earlier this week, Marei proposed a change in the law, cutting the increase from the initial 10-fold to 5-fold. While both opposition MPs and National Democratic Party members agree that the lawsuit fees should increase, lawyers reject the idea "regardless of how much the increase is. The most controversial change is arguably Article 9, which regulates the fees of lawsuits dealing with financial compensation cases, MP Saad Al-Husseiny, told Daily News Egypt. The controversy surrounding it, Al-Husseiny said, prompted the PA to reopen the discussion on the new law after it was approved by the PA's legislative committee. In a statement released earlier this week, Lawyers Against Increasing Lawsuit Fees, the movement spearheading the protests, said it wants Article 9 of the current law to stay in its original form, leaving fees unchanged. Lawyers vowed to continue protesting and threatened to go on hunger strike if their demands weren't met. Under the current law, a plaintiff demanding financial compensation is required to pay a maximum token fee of LE 100. However, the amendments stipulate an increase in said fee. "I expect that the PA will modify this proposed change, Al-Husseiny added. Lawyers continued their sit-in inside the Lawyers' Syndicate throughout this week in protest at the new law. On Monday, they fashioned fake nooses labeled "Increasing lawsuit fees law and tied them around their necks as they protested in front of the syndicate in their robes. In similar protests last week, independent lawyers mocked PA speaker Fathi Sorour, Mamdouh Marei, minister of justice, and Ahmed Ezz, chairman of the National Democratic Party's logistics committee and head of the PA's planning and budget committee, which resulted in clashes with NDP-affiliated lawyers. Lawyers placed banners reading "Public Enemies above puppets representing Sorour, Marei and Ezz.
