Archive for Lawyers Syndicate

Court hears over 50 cases against referendum

by admin
December 25th, 2012

The Cairo Administrative Court at the State Council on Tuesday will begin reviewing over 50 lawsuits from across the country challenging the legitimacy of the vote on Egypt’s new constitution, which ended on Saturday.



Plaintiffs are demanding that the announcement of the final results, scheduled for this evening,  be postponed. They claim that voting was marred by several violations, including inadequate judicial supervision because of many judged boycotting the poll. Petitioners said this resulted in several polling stations being merged, causing overcrowding that prevented thousands of voters from casting their ballots.


Former MP Youssef al-Badry and Lawyers Syndicate member Sabry Etman had filed a lawsuit at the Kafr al-Sheikh Administrative Court against President Mohamed Morsy’s invitation to vote on the new charter. They said the process, conducted over two days, violated Article 60 of the March 2011 Constitutional Declaration, which stipulated a one-day poll.




Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm Website



 

Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Journalists and Lawyers Syndicate heads referred for internal discipline

by admin
December 1st, 2012

 

The Journalists Syndicate’s council decided Saturday to refer syndicate head Mamdouh al-Wali to a disciplinary committee for voting on the final draft of the constitution.

Eight members of the Journalists Syndicate’s council called for an emergency meeting to discuss Wali’s presence at the Constituent Assembly’s final session, in violation of the syndicate’s 25 November decision to withdraw from the assembly.

In a related incident, Lawyers Syndicate head Sameh Ashour was referred to a disciplinary board, and no confidence procedures were started against him, as a result of his presence at a Judges Club general assembly meeting.

The decision was announced during a protest organized by Islamist lawyers, attended by hundreds. Ashour responding by telling Al-Masry Al-Youm, “I challenge the Brotherhood lawyers in a general assembly to take legal action with the lawyers to withdraw confidence from the council and the chairman.”

He demanded his opponents read the Lawyers' Act, which gives the Lawyers Syndicate head the immunity of judges and stipulates specific disciplinary measures he claims were not met by the Brotherhood-affiliated lawyers.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Court to rule on replacing Constituent Assembly case judges in September

by admin
July 30th, 2012

The State Council’s Administrative Court on Monday set a 24 September date to rule on a request submitted by Muslim Brotherhood lawyers to change the judges in the Constituent Assembly case.

The panel has been considering appeals to dissolve the Constituent Assembly and develop new criteria for its formation.

At the beginning of the session, Mohamed Damaty, a member of the Lawyers Syndicate executive board, requested a confidential session on the grounds that he and the Brotherhood lawyers would speak about matters concerning the head judge, which was approved.

Less than 10 minutes after the session, the lawyers came out and said they asked the court for an adjournment to review the case documents, declining to give any further statements.

On 17 July, lawyers filed a request that the judges hearing the case be changed.

The lawyers claimed that the judging panel was not impartial because it had in the past ruled on a similar case. In April, the same group of judges ruled that the first version of the Constituent Assembly was unconstitutional for including members of the now-dissolved Parliament.

A judicial source said that if the request to change judges were accepted, the case would be transferred to another chamber where a new hearing would be scheduled.

However, if the request is denied then the court may hold an emergency hearing to study the case and possibly fine the lawyers who requested the change for delaying the work of the court, state-run newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Lawyers Syndicate: Run-off turnout not exceeding 15%

by admin
June 16th, 2012

So far the voter turnout in the presidential election run-off has not exceeded 15 percent at the majority of polling stations nationwide, the Lawyers Syndicate's committee for monitoring the run-off said Saturday.

"In a number of cities the turnout is as low as 5 or 7 percent, such as in Cairo, Damanhour, Zagazig, Port Said, Ismailia, Mansoura, Fayoum, Kafr al-Sheikh, 6th of October City, Giza, Minya, and Sohag." the commitee's first report said.

It also said there were rare cases of illegal campaigning for both Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq. Campaigning is banned on election days.

"The run-off election is more disciplined than the first round," the report said. 

"There was an clear delay in opening some polling stations in the first four hours. The majority opened to voters between 8:30 and 9 am. Ten percent of the polling stations opened at about 9:30 am because judges and employees managing the electoral process arrived late. This happened in Assiut, Daqahliya, Red Sea, New Valley, Matrouh, Kafr al-Sheikh, Arish and Toar,"

"There was a medium turnout at polling stations in the governorates of Gharbiya, Qaliubiya, Sharqiya, Damietta, Red Sea, South Sinai, Qena, Assuit, New Valley and Matrouh," it added.  
 
Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Lawyers Syndicate to discuss filing suit against judge for insulting Parliament

by admin
June 8th, 2012

Abdel Aziz al-Deriny, the rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee in the Lawyers Syndicate and member of the syndicate's board, has said that the committee will hold an urgent meeting Saturday to discuss the statements of Judges Club head Ahmed al-Zend.

Deriny said that the committee will likely file a suit at the public prosecutor’s office against Zend. “All options are open,” he said, adding that potential charges against Zend include insulting the legislative authority, inciting against its laws, and threatening foreign intervention in domestic issues.

Deriny said the Political Affairs Committee respects and venerates all of Egypt’s judges because the judiciary encourages stability and security in the country, and it was shocked at Zend’s remarks, which were "seditious" due to Zend explicitly insulting MPs.

“The top representative of judges who can speak on their behalf is the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Hossam al-Gheriany. Zend’s statements do not represent the majority of judges, but rather are his personal opinion,” Deriny added.

Sameh Ashour, head of the Lawyers Syndicate, refused to comment on Zend’s statements, saying, “They are still under study.”

Zend denounced Parliament on Thursday after People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny, an FJP MP, allocated a full session to discussing the verdict issued against former President Mubarak and high ranking Interior Ministry officials.

“Had we known the parliamentary election would bring these people to the legislature, we would not have supervised it,” Zend said at a press conference. He threatened that 4,000 judges would refuse to supervise the second round of the presidential election that is scheduled for 16 and 17 June.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
 

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Lawyers withdraw from Port Said session over torture of 10 defendants

by admin
May 10th, 2012

Some defense lawyers withdrew from the Port Said football violence trial at the beginning of Thursday’s session, in protest of what they said was the torture of 10 defendants at Tora Prison on Wednesday evening.

The Port Said Criminal Court on Thursday resumed its trial of 75 suspects accused of perpetrating attacks at Port Said Stadium on 1 February that left 74 dead.

Safwat Abdel Hamid, the head of the Port Said branch of the Lawyers Syndicate, said he filed an official complaint over what he said was the torture and electric shocking of 10 defendants in the case.

As the session opened, Abdel Hamid asked the court to examine the condition of the defendants and for the public prosecutor to take all necessary actions to ensure the their rights are protected. He then announced that the defense team would withdraw from the trial session, though not all lawyers left.

Al-Akhbar reported that head Judge Sobhy Abdel Meguid referred the torture allegations to the Public Prosecution after a court panel examined the defendants and confirmed that they had been tortured. According to the report, the defendants complained that as they entered Tora Prison, Port Said police officer Said Shokry incited other prisoners to attack them, and the other prisoners then tortured them.

On Wednesday, the court session was adjourned three times due to arguments between the defense lawyers and lawyers representing the victims’ relatives.

The same day, Egypt’s chief coroner Ihsan Kamil Georgy angered the victims’ families by telling the court that the corpses displayed no blade wounds and that they were most likely killed by asphyxiation.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Advisory Council to consider request to dissolve itself on Tuesday

by admin
March 5th, 2012

The Advisory Council will consider on Tuesday a request from a number of council members to dissolve the council, particularly after the election of the People's Assembly and Shura Council, Sameh Ashour, deputy head of the Advisory Council and president of the Lawyers Syndicate, said on Monday.

Ashour told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Advisory Council head Mansour Hassan and a majority of council members agreed with the calls for dissolution, but that the decision must be issued formally. He expected a unanimous decision to be issued during the meeting on Tuesday.

Ashour explained that the council had played the role required of it at a time when the state was suffering from the absence of a legislative framework.

He went on to say that only the People's Assembly and Shura Council represent the Egyptian people now and will take action on any matter relating to the future of Egypt during the ongoing transitional phase.

Ashour said the council’s role was merely advisory and that it does not have the authority to make or implement decisions. He added that dissolving the council has nothing to do with recent events or the resignation of a number of its members.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces formed the Advisory Council in December. A number of its members have resigned in protest against the SCAF’s management of the transitional phase and violence against protesters.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)