CAIRO: A lawyer charged with attacking the local prosecutor in Tanta city has reportedly lost the ability to speak about three weeks ago while in custody ahead of his final re-trial hearing on Sunday. “The prison doctor examined my brother [Ehab Saey El Din] when he developed this state about three weeks ago and said that his case is psychosomatic [ a psychological reaction to being kept in prison for so long],” Wael Saey El Din told Daily News Egypt Friday. “Other than being kept in custody, another reason that might have caused Saey El Din's state is that the defense team has not visited him and Moustafa Fatouh [the other lawyer charged in the same case] for a long time,” lawyer Sayed El-Fiki from Gharbeya noted. “Neither did the syndicate send any delegations to check on them since the last hearing held on July 18.” A delegation from the syndicate branch in Gharbeya is expected to visit the two lawyers before the hearing. Lawyers Saey El Din and Fatouh were found guilty of assaulting and offending the local prosecutor in Tanta, the capital of Gharbeya governorate, at his office. During a rushed trial in June, both men were sentenced to five years in prison, even though they claimed that they were attacked by Abu El-Rous and his office security first. Reacting to the verdict, thousands of lawyers held several strikes and sit-ins nationwide, which led to a stand-off between lawyers on the one hand and judges and prosecutors on the other. The verdict was appealed. In the latest appeals session, the defense team led by Lawyers' Syndicate Chairman Hamdy Khalifa called for the temporary suspension of the verdict and the release of the two lawyers on bail until the investigation into their complaint against Abu El-Rous and the policemen was complete. The court disappointed many lawyers, though, by not responding to the defense team's request. Following the latest hearing, the Lawyers' Syndicate ended its nationwide strike until a court verdict is announced, opting against escalation measures. About two months after the incident, Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud transferred Abu El-Rous to Shebeen El-Koum, the capital of Menufiya governorate, a move perceived by many lawyers as an attempt to appease the local prosecutor. “It is not a usual procedure to relocate a prosecutor at an early stage in his career to his hometown … which indicates that no charges will be brought against him as to the complaint filed by lawyers Saey El-Din and Fatouh [accusing him of attacking them] first,” El-Fiki previously told Daily News Egypt. A verdict is expected in the coming appeal session.
