THOUSANDS of Egypt's lawyers stayed away from court buildings across the nation on Tuesday to protest what they call the ‘harsh treatment' they receive from judges and prosecutors in courtrooms. Some of the striking lawyers went to the courts but refused to attend hearing sessions, prompting judges in some governorates in south of Egypt to adjourn the trials, according to lawyers and activists. “This is a chronic problem that must be solved,” said Mamdouh Ramzy, a lawyer. “Prosecutors and judges just think that they are superior to lawyers,” he told The Egyptian Gazette. Rising tensions and assaults between lawyers and prosecutors seem to have pointed to the presence of a real problem in the relationship between the nation's lawyers and its judges and prosecutors. A few months ago, a group of lawyers attacked some prosecutors in the Nile Delta, spreading anger among judges and prosecutors to the extent that some people called for the presence of special guards to protect those legal officials against what they described as ‘repeated' attacks from the lawyers. The lawyers too demand protection, but this time against what they term as ‘tough' treatment from prosecutors and judges. Tens of lawyers gathered outside the Bar Association in central Cairo yesterday to protest this treatment. They chanted slogans and held placards demanding better treatment for the lawyers. “There can be no justice without the lawyers,” said Sameh Ashour, the former chairman of the Bar Association. “Lawyers do their job with dignity and they must have respect,” he added. Incumbent Chairman of the Bar Association Hamdy Khalifa met the Chief Prosecutor on Monday and for members of his influential association. His visit was prompted by a recent clash between two lawyers and some prosecutors in the Nile Delta city of Tanta. The lawyers were later referred to court. This also ignited a protest by the lawyers in Tanta who demanded better treatment for themselves and their workmates. “I don't think there is any disrespect for the lawyers in courts,” said Mahmoud el- Khoderi, a retired judge who currently works as a lawyer. “Lawyers, judges, and prosecutors are colleagues in the same profession,” he added in an interview with The Gazette. El-Khoderi, who worked as a judge for more than 46 years, said he had never treated a lawyer badly, but attributes the latest escalation between lawyers and prosecutors to divisions inside the Bar Association. “The lawyers are divided,” he said. “This is one reason why everybody inside the association tries to prove that he is keen on protecting the dignity of the lawyers by fanning the fire even more,” he added.
