Minister of Justice promises againReform judiciary, activate judicial inspection [Archives:2005/823/Front Page]
Mohammed bin Sallam
Adnan Al-Jefri, Minister of Justice, visited last Monday the headquarters of the Lawyers Syndicate in Sana'a in an effort to ward off further exacerbation of the crisis with lawyers and journalists syndicates, as well as other professional syndicates backing them.
The syndicates had met to discuss the attacks on lawyers Mohammed Naji Allaw, Jamal al-Ja'abi and Hafidh al-Bukhari, Secretary-General of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), by the bodyguards of head of the Court of Appeals, Judge Hamoud al-Hirdi.
The Lawyers Syndicate has circulated a pamphlet on March 3 exposing the procedures the Sana'a Appeals Court's Judge updated especially the exaggerated investigation of journalists' identities and the people who attended the court.
The syndicate's meeting, co- chaired by Mr Adnan al-Jefri and lawyer Abdullah Rajeh, Chief of Yemeni Lawyers Syndicate (YLS), came out with some recommendations including:
1. They expressed their regret over what happened to lawyers Mohammed Naji Allaw and Jamal al-Ja'abi on Tuesday March 1 2005 because it happened in a place where people do go seeking justice and to be secured.
2. They assigned the Judicial Inspection Authority directly to start its investigation in this respect, ensuring an objective report of the events and the superiority of law.
3. They recommended the necessity for arresting the perpetrators and to be brought to justice.
4. They recommended removing the exaggerated armed security procedures and banishing non-official armed persons from courts.
5. They asked for the need to cancel the many provocative measures of personal search done against lawyers.
On last Saturday's meeting held at the YJS's headquarters to show solidarity with lawyers and journalists, many political and syndicate figures affirmed that separation between civil society organizations and political parties has damaged the society's interests.
“The citizens' freedom of expression and dignity are absent,” they commented.
They called on all people to reject all forms of oppression, freedom confiscation, pressures or intimidation exercised by any side.
Meanwhile, the JMP (opposition parties) had denounced in a statement circulated last Saturday the extraordinary unprecedented measures for entering courtrooms.
The statement said, “It was clear for those who attended the Court of Appeals session that the purpose of those measures was to humiliate, suppress, and terrorize the leaders of opinion, society, men of letters, diplomats, politicians and human rights activists who were present before the trial session was held.”
It added that another purpose was procrastination of the trial proceedings of the prisoner of opinion Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani.
On the other hand, lawyers have expressed their non-optimism with respect that the Minister of Justice would conform to the agreement with the Lawyers Syndicate. “He has been promising repeatedly to introduce imperative reforms to the judicial system and to resolve the prolonging of al-Khaiwani's trial,” they said.
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