Ashour says will not run for 2019 Lawyers Syndicate election

CAIRO – 6 February 2018: Head of the Egyptian Lawyers Syndicate and Arab Lawyers' Union, Sameh Ashour, said he will not run for the syndicate’s next election in 2019.

He added in an interview with CBC that the new lawyers’ bill is currently reviewed by the Parliament’s legislative committee in preparation for the general discussion at the Parliament.

Ashour served non-consecutive terms as syndicate president from 2001 to 2008, and again from 2011 to present. His current 4-year term will end in December 2019.

Ashour was known for his support to Egyptian lawyers regardless their ideologies. After June 30 Revolution – that toppled the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi – Ashour opposed expelling a member from the syndicate only because he belongs to the Brotherhood organization.

He explained that he would terminate syndicate membership of any lawyer who violates law, “whether he is a Nasserite or a Muslim Brotherhood member.”

Ashour said a Brotherhood lawyer would be punished if he committed a political or criminal offense. However, political conflict does not lead to punishing a member.

Established in 1912, the Lawyers Syndicate is one of Egypt’s oldest professional associations, and also among the country’s most politically active associations.