Algerian lawyers call from Damascus for official apologies

The Algerian delegation yesterday withdrew from the opening session of the Arab Lawyers’ Executive Board’s meeting that took place at “Dedman Hotel” Damascus, Syria, at the moment where the president of the Egyptian bar, the current Union’s Executive Board’s chairman, was about to address the Assembly.

• The move was meant by to denounce the uncivilized and heinous act perpetrated by the Egyptian lawyers recently when they burnt the Algerian flag in downtown Cairo as part of the ferocious campaign launched by the Egyptian authorities and media against Algeria in the wake of the defeat of their national squad versus the Algerian side in Khartoum.
• The Algerian delegation included the current president of the Algerian bar Abdelmadjid Sellini, the former attorney general Ben Toumi and Mohammed Mehri.
• Most of the Arab Lawyers who took part to the Boards’ meeting were surprised and didn’t expect the Algerian delegation’s gesture that put the Egyptian lawyer in an uncomfortable situation. He lost his concentration and carried out in his speech with a shaky voice at a time; meanwhile, the audience was split into those who tried to listen to the Egyptian’s address and the others who were focussed on the peaceful protest led by the Algerian delegation outside the conference hall.
• At the moment where the Egyptian lawyer, who hailed the burning of the Algerian flag few days ago by his colleagues in Cairo, was preparing to address the audience, the Algerian delegation suddenly quit the conference room raising slogans” Live Algeria, Live Algeria”.
• The Egyptian lawyer who was addressing the Arab lawyers while the Algerians were outside has declared” We will fight for our opinion until death among the Arab countries”. He further went on using propaganda rather than a legal speech” We will not permit for anyone to harm the Arab ideology”. This declaration prompted some Arab lawyers to reply spontaneously” Is the burning of the Algerian flag part of the Arab ideology?
• While some of the Egyptian lawyers tried to depart from the upstream expressing their indignation after the burning of the Algerian symbol, the Algeria lawyers for their part were intransigent: we do not want isolated condemnations, but an official denunciation and apologies as well as the punishing of the culprits.
• While everybody was expecting apologies from the Egyptian lawyer, this one wound up his speech saying” There is not any conflict between the Arabs and there isn’t any crisis between Egypt and Algeria”.