CAIRO: An unidentified member in the National Democratic Party (NDP) is pressing for a resolution to the ongoing legal specialists ordeal and a compromise is expected soon, specialists told Daily News Egypt.
During a meeting between officials from the legal specialists syndicate and protestors Saturday, specialists were told that an “important official, whose name was not disclosed, intervened to resolve the matter.
They were also asked to tone down their attacks on the Ministry of Justice to the media and during their protests.
The ministry is pressing for a resolution from behind the scenes, Mohamed Tahoon, spokesperson for the protestors, told Daily News Egypt.
Specialists subsequently organized a silent demonstration last Sunday in which they refrained from yelling chants against the minister like previous protests.
Meanwhile, the Journalists’ Syndicate organized a symposium to discuss the legal specialists’ issue, bringing together more than 20 civil organizations including Lawyers without Borders and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, and Abdel Halim Qandil, coordinator of the Kefaya Movement for Change.
Mohamed Abdel Aleem from Al-Wafd and Gamal Zahran from Al-Karama opposition parties as well as Ali Fateh El-Bab from the Muslim Brotherhood attended the symposium.
Participants criticized Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei and officials at the ministry for ignoring the specialists demands.
It was the first time that we receive such massive support this way, it raised our spirits very much, Tahoon said.
However, Tahoon dissociated the specialists’ protest with any opposition parties.
We can t stop people from showing their support to us but at the same time we don t ask anyone for support, he said.
Press reports suggested that specialists who received a special reward from the ministry because of their unprecedented achievement records from Qena specialists offices sent a thank you note to the minister and accused protestors of exaggerating their demands.
This letter came after we announced that those who received the reward donated part of their money to the protestors, Tahoon said.
The letter was written for a personal aim and it doesn t represent the opinion of Qena s legal specialists or ours, Tahoon added.
The legal specialists, who have started their sit in on July 6, are demanding the cancellation of periodic book number eight which allows them to examine case files only inside the courtroom. They are also calling for an amendment to Law 96/1952 as well as better pay and work conditions.
