Justice Int’l Condemns Barring Lawyers From Attending MB Trial

Justice Int’l Condemns Barring Lawyers From Attending MB Trial

Dr. Mohieddin, a representative from Justice International, a global network of lawyers, has commented on preventing Mr. Ali Azhar from attending the third session of the military trial against 33 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, and preventing him from getting inside Egypt as well. Dr. Mohieddin said, “It’s very strange and unfortunate that a lawyer of over 40 years practice in London, would be prevented from enetring Egypt in pursuit of legal matters, whether it’s meeting the lawyers, or monitoring the trials, and anything to do with freedom, fairness and justice. “


He wondered again about the reason of such act saying, “The real reason behind the refusal to allow him to enter Egypt is only known to the authorities. We can not find sensible reasons for it. However, we can only speculate… in 1995, when Mr. Ali Azhar came to Egypt and attended a military tribunal as an observer, he expressed his views of the short comings of such system, military tribunals lack all means of a fair trial.”


He added, “But again, that was in 1995, and that comment was made on the issue and event available at that time. We don’t know the reason or real aim behind these measures that the Egyptian authorities have taken in the airport, but if it was intended to prevent him so that he, or anyone like him, even Ramsey Clark, who held the highest legal position in the government of the United States in the past, was not allowed to enter the tribunals yesterday, we can only conclude, and it raises more curiosity as to know… what is really happening within such tribunals in Egypt? Such acts make people become more interested to know what is really happening if you’re trying to hide something.”


“So it really brings interest of all” he said, “whether the Egyptian citizens or anyone who is abiding to law is interested in fair trial based on justice. They need to have an open and transparent system to prove it is a fair trial and open to the public, it should be opened to anyone.”


He concluded, “I do appreciate that the governments have their own reasons for allowing or disallowing a foreign group into the country, it is rather a state’s priority or system and I understand that. But that is an exercise that would be taken against individuals on the basis of some threats or matters that may differ with the interns of the state. However, In the case of Mr. Ali Azhar, he neither has done anything like that, nor does his authority say that they have a reason why they have prevented him. We have seen that the Egyptian authorities have no excuse. At the arriving terminal, many foreign monitors came. This is a strange issue, depriving people from coming to Egypt although they have not done anything wrong, either to the Egyptian citizens or to the government.”


He said about Mr. Ali Azhar, “He is caring about human rights as an individual, and he is a fair man


At the end, he said, “This makes it more than a reason why we want to understand the reason behind these trials. For example, referring the civilians to military trials to be tried by the military despite the fact that the Egyptian authorities have an established legal system, an established court for trying people for committing crimes in general.”