Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Montasser al-Zayat said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm that he is running in the Journalists' Syndicate elections to replace current chairman, Sameh Ashour.
He also called on the Muslim Brotherhood to cancel its decision to boycott the elections, and on the government to integrate the group in the community so as not to spawn more extremists.
Q: What is your program?
A: To restore the dignity of lawyers. Lawyers are beaten in police stations and humiliated by prosecutors. And the leaders of the syndicate do nothing for them because they are only concerned with their personal interests.
Q: What else?
A: I will hit with an iron fist anyone wasting the funds of the syndicate. Also, a lawyer’s pension was a minimum of LE1,500 and a maximum of LE5,000 in 2006 when the syndicate’s budget was LE150 million. It is now LE500 million, which means pensions can be raised.
Q: Was the budget wasted or misused?
A: The syndicate organized a conference in Port Said that was attended by 4,000 lawyers and cost LE500,000, or so they said. Would it not have been better for this kind of money to be spent on health care services or go to the widows of lawyers? The whole conference was nothing but a campaign for the elections.
Also, the chairman bought 30 buses for LE6 million from the budget by direct order, and not through bid or tender, to give as a reward to the provinces that had elected him.
Q: What did you say in the “Black Book” that you wrote about the syndicate?
A: I refuted Ashour’s claims in his book “Achievements of the Syndicate” with unequivocal evidence. His book is a sham.
Q: Is it a battle against Ashour personally?
A: Yes. I want him out because he has insulted the profession. He wanted to become a member of parliament, but his record failed him.
Q: Will the Islamist lawyers support you?
A: I am running for all lawyers, but I certainly want the Islamists to support me as well.
Q: Will you seek the support of the Muslim Brotherhood?
A: I seek the support of all blocs. The Brotherhood has suffered a lot under Ashour. I hope the group will go back on its decision to boycott the elections.
Q: Is the boycott just a maneuver, whereas they will vote in secret?
A: No. They are not participating.
Q: Will the government and the public allow the Brotherhood to take part in political life again?
A: This would be in the interest of the government so as not to spawn more extremists.
Q: Will the government accept an Islamist chairman for the syndicate?
A: What does this have to do with the government? The lawyers want a strong chairman. It is a private matter.
I am a moderate Islamist. I do not want to see Islamists being killed as much as I do not want to see army and police personnel being killed.
Q: What did the Brotherhood do when it was in control of the syndicate?
A: Good things in the beginning, but then it got interested in power.
