CAIRO: Egypt's top lawyers formed a committee to defend and advocate the rights of the families of the martyrs of Egypt's January 25 Revolution. During their coordinating meeting at the Lawyers Club, they said the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain. They also swore to reclaim the prestige of the families during the second hearing of the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak on August 15. All defense lawyers of the families should forget their personal affairs to do their best to defend the families, said the former deputy chairman of the Egyptian Court of Cassation, Mahmoud el-Khodheiry. He added that any lawyer should not be excluded and that there should be coordinating among the lawyers. All lawyers should be unified to compile all evidence against the killers of the demonstrators during the trials of Mubarak and former Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly, according to Sameh Ashor, former president of the Bar Aasociation. Ashor added that the defense committee should be divided into ten groups, each concerned with finding evidence against the killers. Hossam Essa, one of the lawyers, said Mubarak is being tried for about one percent of his crimes against the Egyptian people. Essa called for raising the issues of presidential succession, killing of demonstrators and every torture case perpetrated by Mubarak's regime before the court. Essa asked to appoint a spokesman for the committee to deal with the media. Commenting on the first civil defense lawyers' advocating during Mubarak's trial, chairman of the Bar Association's freedom committee said the lawyers are not organized but that their performance is not ‘low,' as described by the Egyptian street. “I attended the meeting to hear words to make my heart reassured until the day of August 15,” said the mother of one martyr, who called on the lawyers not to give up the case. More than 800 people were killed during the revolution.
