BEIRUT: The Beirut Bar Association Monday denounced a delegation of Syrian lawyers who assaulted one of their Lebanese counterparts a day before at the Arab Lawyers Union conference in Cairo.
“The remarks made by one of our colleagues may be controversial but the [Syrian lawyers] should not have responded by punching, beating and abusing him,” read a statement released by the Beirut Bar Association.
The statement expressed the union’s commitment to the principles of free speech, irrespective of geographic location, saying “freedom in Beirut should not become oppression in Cairo.”
The assault Sunday came following a speech by Fadi Saad, a lawyer from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, in which he criticized some oppressive dictatorships in the Arab world. But it was one remark in particular that infuriated a portion of the crowd.
“Let’s compare the Egyptian army and the Syrian army. The Egyptian army defended its people twice ... in 2011 and 2013, while the Syrian army is killing its people,” he said, sparking an instant melee.
Cellphone footage captured from inside the Cairo meeting showed a group of men jumping from their seats and rushing at the speaker, with several altercations breaking out between the attendees.
The Bar Association in Beirut and Tripoli convened in a special meeting Monday following the assault.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the attendees stressed the importance of respecting freedom of expression, calling the attack an “assault on free speech.”
The statement also said that the Arab Lawyers Union did not belong to either pro-Assad or anti-regime camps, noting that the union should be a space for free interaction and communication.
The Bar Association in Beirut and Tripoli also called on the head of the Arab Lawyers Union to announce the names of the lawyers who waged the assault after disbarring them. Otherwise, Syria’s membership in the Arab Lawyers Union should be revoked all together, the statement added.
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