The head of the Casablanca Bar Association has reaffirmed that lawyers should continue their nationwide strike after a photograph showing several lawyers, including former Justice Minister Mustapha Ramid, appeared to signal opposition to the continued work stoppage.
Mohamed Hissi, head of the Casablanca Bar Association, told Hespress AR that the association had instructed its members to continue suspending professional services until a meeting of the Association of Bar Associations of Morocco on Sept. 10, when lawyers are expected to review the decisions adopted by the professional body.
The photograph, dated Tuesday, Sept. 1, shows Ramid, former minister of justice and freedoms, alongside former Casablanca bar chiefs Mohamed Chehbi and Abdellah Drimich and members of the Casablanca Bar Council. Their gathering at the Casablanca Court of Appeal appeared to signal a willingness to resume providing legal defense services.
The Association of Bar Associations of Morocco decided last week to maintain its strike and boycott of judicial duties, despite the entry into force of Law No. 66.23 regulating the legal profession following its publication in Morocco’s official gazette.
Sources within the association’s bureau told Hespress AR that the current decision is temporary and will be subject to a final determination at the Sept. 10 meeting.
A meeting was held at the Casablanca Court of Appeal with the participation of lawyers including Noumane Seddik, Fatima Zahra El Ibrahimi, Amine Lahlo, Mohamed Karam, Abdelhaq Bennani Naciri, Khalid Dahbi, Kawtar Jalal and Jihad Akram, in addition to Ramid, Chehbi and Drimich.
The meeting resulted in a decision by those present to resume work, a move that appeared to create tension within the Casablanca Bar Association.
Hissi said the association does not prevent individual lawyers from exercising their professional rights but maintained that the collective position remains unchanged.
“Everyone remains committed to the decision of the association’s bureau,” Hissi said. “Anyone who chooses to attend will bear their historical responsibility. We will not prevent anyone from attending; that is their choice.”
He said differences in individual positions do not alter what he described as the profession’s guiding principle at this stage: maintaining unity.
Hissi stressed that the decision to suspend work was not made by the Casablanca bar chief individually but by the Association of Bar Associations of Morocco, the professional body leading the current campaign against provisions of the legal profession law.
Asked whether opposition to the strike by a prominent figure such as Ramid, a former senior member of the Justice and Development Party and former government minister, could encourage more lawyers to disregard the directives of the national association and local bar bodies, Hissi said Ramid should be treated like any other lawyer.
“The association has no ranks,” Hissi said, adding that the work stoppage remains in effect and that “everyone must bear their historical responsibility.”
“We remain committed to the association’s decision. If another decision is issued, we will abide by it,” he said.
Hissi called on lawyers in Casablanca to remain united behind the Association of Bar Associations of Morocco.
In a statement issued Aug. 29, Hissi told members of the Casablanca Bar that the legal profession’s defense of its interests and core principles would continue “by all legitimate means.”
He said the legal profession had demonstrated an unprecedented level of cohesion and unity during its dispute over the new law.
The dispute between Morocco’s lawyers and the authorities has centered on the legislation governing the legal profession, with bar associations objecting to provisions they say affect the profession’s independence and the exercise of lawyers’ duties.
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