The Acting Council of the Palestinian Bar Association Removes all PCHR’s Lawyers from the Roll of Practicing Lawyers

 

Ref.,: 57/2000

Date: 10^th May, 2000

In an unprecedented step the Acting Council of the Palestinian Bar Association this morning sent notice to all lawyers working with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights that their names have been removed from the list of practicing lawyers, thus depriving them of their right to appear before Palestinian courts and to practice their profession. The notices, which were stamped with the logo of the Bar Association, without signature, were dated 9 May 2000. The following lawyers were served notice of the Council’s decision to remove them from the list of practicing lawyers;

1. Raji Sourani
2. Iyad Alami
3. Hanan Matar
4. Ashraf Nasralla
5. Ibrahim Sourani
6. Fouad Tarazi

While preparing this press release PCHR has been informed that similar notices were sent to 31 lawyers who work with human rights and non-governmental organisations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. PCHR strongly condemns this decision of the Acting Council, a decision which has no legal basis.

Human rights organisations and their lawyers have always worked together with the Bar Association to defend and actively promote the rule of law, human rights and democracy, on both the Israeli and the Palestinian agendas. The Bar Association has always been proud of its members working in human rights organisations, who considered their work as complementing the work of the Bar Association.

The arbitrary decisions taken by the Acting Council are an insult to all Palestinian lawyers and their Bar Association, of which they have always been proud. The decisions were made for non-professional reasons and are illegal. Furthermore the notices were sent on the very last day of the legal period of the Acting Council’s mandate. According to the Law of the Legal Profession of 1999, the Acting Council would assume responsibility for the affairs of the Bar Association until the holding of elections at a date not later than six months after the law came into effect. This date was yesterday 9 May 2000, at which time the Acting Council was automatically dissolved. As no elections have yet been held, a legal vacuum now exists, and the Acting Council no longer represents the Bar Association.

During the last six months the Acting Council has failed to prepare for the holding of elections and in particular has failed to pass the necessary by-laws for elections. The Acting Council has, however, attempted to pass an election by-law that would guarantee the election of its current members and the current Head of the Bar Association. This was motivated by political considerations irrelevant to the profession of law and against the interests of lawyers. Contrary to law the Acting Council did not call for the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Bar Association, which was due in the last week of February 2000. Instead an extraordinary meeting was called on 7 April 2000 to discuss the election by-laws. The meeting took place in Ramallah but lacked the necessary quorum. The Acting Council then called for the annual meeting of the General Council in Gaza on 22 April 2000, but again the meeting lacked quorum. A third attempt to convene the General Assembly in Ramallah on 6 May 2000 also failed, and no election by-law was passed. The meeting was postponed to 19 May 2000. It is worth mentioning that more than 40 lawyers from the Gaza Strip are denied access by the Israeli authorities to the West Bank, and at the same time many lawyers in the West Bank are denied access to Gaza.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and its lawyers, jointly with other human rights organisations and their lawyers, is committed to struggle and to take all legal measures to ensure:

1. The existence of an independent, free and professional Bar Association;
2. Respect of the rule of law and democracy in the Bar Association through the holding of free and fair elections.

 

“END”