CAIRO: The two Tanta city lawyers convicted with assaulting and insulting a local prosecutor were released Sunday, Lawyers’ Syndicate board member Mohamed Abdel-Ghaffar told Daily News Egypt Monday.
Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud issued the order three days ago after Basem Aboul-Rous, a former local prosecutor in Tanta, the capital of Gharbeya governorate, had dropped charges against lawyers Ehab Saey El-Din and Moustafa Fatouh, according to Abdel-Ghaffar, also a member of the defense team.
Syndicate chairman Hamdy Khalifa had a meeting with Mahmoud earlier last week during which he pleaded for their release.
Abdel-Ghaffar argued that the January 25 Revolution was not the direct reason behind the two men’s release.
“But maybe the revolution has stirred the feelings of Aboul-Rous leading him to drop charges and respond to the people’s call of setting the two men free,” he said.
In June 2010, Saey El-Din and Fatouh were handed down a five-year sentence during a rushed trial.
In response to the verdict, thousands of lawyers staged several strikes and sit-ins nationwide, which led to a stand-off between lawyers on the one hand and judges and prosecutors on the other.
The Lawyers’ Syndicate appealed the verdict and the two men were granted a re-trial.
However, in September 2010, Saey El-Din and Fatouh were sentenced by the Tanta Appeals Court to two years and three months, after being imprisoned for three months following the first verdict.
The two lawyers repeatedly claimed they were attacked by Aboul-Rous and the security of his office first.
The syndicate contested the second verdict before the Cassation Court, which was expected to look into the case on March 23.
Legally, Saey El-Din and Fatouh have the right to resume practicing law since they were not convicted in a crime involving moral turpitude.
