A policeman who was charged of the attempted murder of a lawyer was released Tuesday pending investigations into the case. Lawyer Mohamed Al-Gamal was shot and injured by a policeman in the Nasr City court on Saturday. The lawyer was transported to hospital and underwent surgery, whilst the policeman was placed in detention for four days pending investigations. The shooting happened after a quarrel between Al-Gamal and a colleague on the one hand, and the prosecution official, the policeman and other policemen on the other. Al-Gamal made televised comments Tuesday to the private satellite channel Dream TV saying that the policeman shot him intentionally and with incitement from the prosecution official. "I was defending a defendant who was being beaten by a policeman when I was assaulted," Al-Gamal explained. "The policeman admitted in the investigations that he shot me and now he is released, is this penalty?" he added. The East Cairo prosecution appealed Tuesday against the release of the policeman by a Cairo court. The policeman told the prosecution he heard a loud noise and saw someone running, and so began to fire in the direction of the running, Lawyer's Syndicate media officer Sherif Anany told Daily News Egypt. The syndicate held a partial strike Sunday in protest of the incident. This comes at a time of already existing tensions between lawyers and the state. Al-Gamal received Monday a visit from the Interior Minister's assistant for Media, Relations and Human Rights, Abu Bakr Abdul Karim, in which he delivered a message of appreciation to lawyers and support to the injured Al-Gamal. The minister's assistant said that the ministry gives "all respect, cooperation and help" to lawyers acknowledging that "their work is important to the system of justice".
