MIRSAD Urgent Action September 3, 2003

MIRSAD has just learned that the president of the Bar Association at Beirut ("BAB"), Raymond Chedid, has ordered the commencement of disciplinary measures against three lawyers, who are members of the Law Offices of Dr. Muhamad Mugraby, for having taken part in the efforts to set him free without first having approached Chedid for his prior written permission. Chedid, on behalf the BAB, had applied in writing to the public prosecutor to have Dr. Mugraby arrested and jailed. He then filed multiple oppositions against petitions for his release. The petitions for Dr. Mugraby's release had to be filed on his behalf by one or more attorneys holding his written power of attorney. Actions on these petitions were also appealed on behalf of Dr. Mugraby during his detention. Dr. Mugraby, confined to jail and unable to act in his own defense, could not have personally prepared and signed the papers.

The BAB, in the person of Chedid, appears to be adamant not only in attempting, on behalf of higher authorities in the regime, to prevent Dr. Mugraby from acting as counsel to hundreds of his clients who are mostly victims of abuse of power and human rights violations, but also in denying Dr. Mugraby himself the right to counsel, which is an outright violation of one of the most basic civil and human rights. Furthermore, Chedid appears to be insisting on playing both the role of adversary and arbiter in this matter, indifferent to the resounding conflict of interest in the situation. The behavior of Chedid on behalf of the BAB, as a public event in the Republic of Lebanon, echoes the conditions of the former Communist Eastern Block during the heydays of the former Soviet Union.

Two days prior to Dr. Mugraby's liberation from arbitrary detention, Chedid visited with the Lebanese President General Lahoud, who publicly awarded him a medal before several members of the press.

We urge action to put a prompt and final end to this derision.

Please contact:

His Excellency President Emile Lahoud
President of the Republic
Fax: +961 5 922400

His Excellency Bahij Tabbara
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Sami Solh Street
Beirut
Lebanon
Fax: +961 1 862622
email: minister@justice.gov.lb