CAIRO: Protesting legal specialists refused to end their sit-in Wednesday, claiming that the Ministry of Justice changed the terms of a deal they reached Monday.
The second round of negotiations between Boules Hanna, assistant minister, and legal specialists’ representatives resulted in an agreement to raise incentives and activate three options in periodic book number eight – whose recent release was criticized by the specialists for mandating requirements that made their job more difficult.
The three options are reviewing case files in court, taking home an original copy of the documents or taking a copy of the originals for review.
Both parties also agreed to propose the new specialists law for disucssion during the next parliamentary session in November.
The ministry pledged to discuss their other demands at a later dates.
However, in an official statement, the ministry said that an increase in incentives will be linked to achievement records and that judges and courts are to be notified with the activation of any clauses in the contested periodic book.
Following the meeting that brought together Hussein Zaki, head of the specialists’ sector authority; and Mohamed Daher, head of the legal specialists’ club, news reports and state television confirmed that the specialists’ protest came to an end.
“Specialists ended their sit-in after the misunderstanding between them and the ministry was cleared regarding financial incentives, receiving case files, appointing specialists at court rooms and the new specialists’ law, the ministry said in a statement issued on Monday.
On Wednesday morning, several specialists at the scene of the sit-in were getting ready to end the strike and many expressed to Daily News Egypt their satisfaction with what they achieved, saying they are relieved that the issue was resolved before Ramadan.
Towards the end of the day, however, protesting legal specialists expressed their dissatisfaction with the details of the ministry’s proposal.
“We reject this resolution because it didn’t achieve our prelisted demands and it came up with weak and meaningless decisions, specialists said in a statement.
According to specialists, the head of specialists sector told them to accept the ministry’s terms and end their sit-in or they will be subject to “severe punishments. He also said that the ministry will consider their demands to reach another resolution.
“We will not end our sit-in unless an official ministerial decision is issued that meets our demands and we urge President Mubarak to intervene to solve the crisis, the statement read.
Walid Badawy, spokesperson for the protesting specialists, said that while the ministry raised the basic incentive rate to LE 500-1,000, they also stipulated that specialists finalize seven cases rather than five to receive the incentive.
Badawy added that while the ministry raised incentives for the morning shift by 250 percent, it stipulated that recipients finalize five cases instead of two.
“Increasing the number of cases in the morning shift means that we won’t be able to take a night shift and receive its incentives; they increased the specialists’ work load, he told Daily News Egypt.
Badawy said that a verbal notification to courts and judges isn’t obligatory and “has no significance.
Specialists started their sit-in on July 6 demanding the cancellation of periodic book number eight that allows them to examine case files in courtrooms only. They are also calling for an amendment to Law 96/1952 as well as better pay and work conditions.
On July 25, a delegation from the protesting specialists met with first secretary of the presidential office, Hatem Qenawy, and presented a list of demands that included financial parity with employees at the state judicial authority and the administrative prosecution.
