CAIRO: The Lawyers Syndicate called on activating the Interior Ministry’s code of conducts to curb police brutality and assaults on lawyers, Youm7 reported Monday.
The call comes in the wake of an alarming physical assault by a police officer on a lawyer that took place inside a police station in Egypt’s Delta governorate of Damietta last week.
”We call on activating the code of conducts, issued by the Interior Minister, in order to ensure that such incidents will not take place again,” the syndicate said in a statement Monday.
Issued in November 2012, the joint code ensures good behavior of police personnel with all lawyers in police stations. It also obliges police officers to facilitate the work of lawyers.
“Both the Interior Ministry and the lawyers syndicate are committed to take actions against anyone who breaks the code ” the Interior Ministry said in a statement Monday.
Photos showing lawyer Emad Fahmy bleeding have circulated online, after a police officer hit him in the head with his shoe during an during an argument at Faraskur police station in Egypt’s Delta governorate of Damietta.
On Saturday, the Lawyer Syndicate called for a nationwide strike to protest the assault while the syndicate head Sameh Ashour announced that above 90 percent of Egypt’s lawyers has participated in the strike.
However, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said in a statement Sunday he apologizes to lawyers for the assault.
“I apologize to any Egyptian citizen if he was humiliated as I consider myself responsible for anything relevant to Egyptian citizens; also I need to make it clear for police officers or any governmental officials that we deal with human beings and we all need to take care of them,” said Sisi.