Delegations from the Egyptian Lawyers Syndicate’s provincial branches began arriving in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, where the court will hear an appeal on Sunday submitted by two lawyers sentenced early last month to five years each in prison for allegedly assaulting Tanta’s chief prosecutor.
The 8 June verdict triggered a crisis between the nation’s lawyers and judges and prompted numerous strikes by lawyers across the country.
The court is expected to hear testimony from 13 eyewitnesses in the case.
At a vigil staged on Thursday before the Supreme Court building, lawyers demanded that the Tanta prosecutor be brought to trial. They were supported by scores of colleagues who staged simultaneous vigils in other provinces.
Some lawyers, however, turned down a syndicate request to stage similar demonstrations in front of other Cairo courts.
Moqbil Shaker, for his part, vice president of the National Human rights Council and mediator in the dispute, denied he had discussed the matter with the heads of the Lawyers Syndicate and the Egyptian Judges Club.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
