CAIRO: The People's Assembly's legislative committee will hold a meeting Wednesday between legal specialists and the Ministry of Justice. The meeting will bring together Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei - or his deputy for specialists and forensic affairs Hassan Abdel Razek - and Mohamed Daher Hussein, head of the legal specialists club and Hussein Zaki, head of the specialists sector at the ministry. The meeting was initiated after both sides presented a memo explaining their positions. "We presented our demands regarding obligatory appointment at courtrooms and periodic book number eight and explained why they are illegal and unconstitutional, Mahmoud El-Qobeisy, one of the protestors, told Daily News Egypt. "It is up to the committee to decide if the ministry's decisions are legal or not, he said. Specialists staged a 60-day sit-in demanding the cancellation of periodic book number eight which allows them to examine case files only inside the courtroom. They were also calling for an amendment to Law 96/1952 as well as better pay and work conditions. As protests escalated, the legal specialists demanded the cancellation of obligatory appointments at court rooms and equality with employees at the administrative prosecution and state judicial authority. The sit-in was suspended after PA speaker Fathi Sorour pledged to table the new specialists' law at parliament in November and assigned the legislative committee to investigate the specialists' demands.
