Beirut Bar Association chief denounces assault on Lebanon lawyers by their Syrian colleagues

The Beirut Bar Association chief George Jreij Monday denounced the delegation of Syrian lawyers for assaulting their Lebanese colleagues yesterday at the Arab Lawyers Union conference in Cairo.

“This is an unprecedented phenomenon, especially since the Arab Lawyers Union was established to be a model and not to move Arab states’ differences to this Union,” Jreij told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

He expressed concerns over the “acts of intimidation against one of the lawyers who was voicing his opinion.”

“Response is everyone’s right and difference of opinion is sacred,” Jreij said.

The Lebanese lawyers delegation was assaulted Sunday by members of the Syrian delegation as Lebanon’s representative was delivering a speech on terrorism at the Conference .

“Lebanese lawyers representing the Beirut and Tripoli bar associations at the 23rd general conference of Arab lawyers in Cairo came under a blatant attack from the Syrian lawyers delegation representing Bashar Assad’s regime,” the media department of Lebanon’s Future Movement announced.

The assault happened as “Fadi Saad, the coordinator of Future movement’s lawyers dept., was delivering a speech before the committee specialized in terrorism affairs,” Future added.

“As the lawyer Saad was delivering his speech, he was interrupted several times by Assad’s representatives, before they assaulted him and Lebanese delegation members Jabil Qambris and Munir al-Husseini,” the statement said.

The statement called on the Arab Lawyers Union to “take a decisive stance on what happened and exclude the representatives of the Assad regime from participation in the conferences of Arab lawyers.”

Lebanon’s Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi telephoned Beirut Bar Association and Tripoli Bar Association chiefs to condemn the assault.

He also called for “boycotting” the Syrian regime and “taking the appropriate measures against it by depriving it of participation in the Arab legal and judicial conferences and forums,” urging Cairo to “penalize the perpetrators of this attack.”