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Manama: Lawyers on Monday threatened to go on strike and abandon their court hearings if any maltreatment of lawyers occurs again, following an incident on Sunday.
Member of the Bahrain Bar Society Fawziya Janahi told Gulf News on Monday that an incident in which policemen searched two lawyers while entering a courtroom on Sunday could not be tolerated.
According to the law, only the general attorney or head of public prosecution can order that lawyers be searched and that did not happen in Sunday's incident, Janahi said.
She said that only when security forces thought a person was suspicious could they search them and according to her such a justification could not be used in this case.
"No similar incident has occurred since the establishment of the legal system and courts in Bahrain as lawyers are always protected and respected by the community," she said.
Riot case
The society issued a statement condemning the incident and called to investigate the reasons behind it. The two lawyers in question are defending men accused of rioting.
Court cases of riots and vandalism are associated with tough security as the relatives of the accused always demonstrate outside the court building
The Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, Mohammad Rashid Buhamood, said in a statement that action taken by the security forces at the court was to maintain security and ensure smooth operations, as administrative procedures did not target specific individuals, especially lawyers.
The undersecretary added the search operation was smooth and fast. He said the ministry was willing to hear the views of the concerned bodies.
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