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III. Women's Legal Aid Project during 2002:
Established in 1994, the Women's Legal Aid Project is one of the major programs at EOHR.
Despite the difficulties, which the project has undergone, it has many achievements with respect to providing legal aid for poor women and raising their legal awareness.
Throughout 2002, the project continued its activities on a larger scale both in the field of legal aid for poor women and in providing them with free legal consultations, either at the headquarters of EOHR or on the phone.
In this respect, the lawyers at EOHR followed up many cases filed by poor women.
Such cases are divided into cases, which were considered during 2001, and cases filed during 2002 and are as follows:
1- Nine misdemeanor cases (assault, forgery, checks without account) that all ended in conciliation.
2- Nine civil cases
3- 43 law cases divided into:
-11 cases of alimony and children and relatives expenses 9 cases have been concluded either to the benefit of the claimants or by conciliation.
Two cases are still under deliberation.
- Seven imprisonment cases for blocked alimony of which six cases have been executed either by sequestration or by receiving the sums in total or disbursed. - One case of imprisonment is still under deliberation
- Four cases challenging the notification of obedience of which two cases ended by conciliation, one to the benefit of the claimant and the fourth is still under deliberation.
- Three cases reclaiming the deferred sum of the bridal dowry all ended to the benefit of the claimants.
- Two cases calling for tuition fees, one ended for the benefit of the claimant and the other is still being deliberated.
- 2 cases to see children, which ended all to the benefit of the claimants
- 2 cases of abolition of the ruling and increasing the defined sum of money. One was concluded and the other is still being deliberated.
-One case of annexation of children ended to the benefit of the claimant.
-One case of unlawful desertion and is still deliberated.
The Legal Aid Project offered legal consultations to many women who used to come to the headquarters of EOHR or to contact them by phone asking about legal issues or problems with legal dimensions, which they do not know how to handle.
Such consultations amounted to 800, most of which were about cases of: divorce at of the wife's insistence, who pays compensation, inheritance, the obligatory stay at the husband's house, how to gain control over the household of marriage, custody of children, labor problems, getting married to foreigners, the status of the Egyptian wife who is married to a foreigner and the status of her children as to acquiring the Egyptian nationality and how to guarantee their legal rights in case they did not acquire the Egyptian nationality.
In the first place, the Legal Aid Project is keen on maintaining the integrity of the family.
It is, similarly, keen on enabling the women who deal with the project to obtain their rights as guaranteed by the law as well as the Muslim law, with a view to protecting the children.
Therefore, those who work in the project try to settle the disputes cordially at any stage of the case.
Due to such policy adopted by the project, 25 cases ended in conciliation during litigation or before resorting to the court.
19 cases have already been filed and are being deliberated at the sessions.
Samples of the cases sponsored by the project over 2002:
1) Mrs. Reda Ewis Muhammad:
She came to the headquarters of EOHR complaining of the injustice inflicted upon her by her husband.
She asked the Legal Aid Project to help her in bringing up her son away from her dishonest husband.
She asked to file a case for Khuluu' divorce and another case asking for the financial support of her son.
Case No. 1403/2002 was filed before Southern Giza court and case No. 385 of 2002 was filed before Bandar El Giza/law.
The court referred the case to the arbitrators and assigned a sum of 200 LE as experts' expenses.
Since EOHR does not pay for experts' fees, the woman decided to revoke the case and to end the procedures.
She said that her husband brought some of his relatives and some of the eminent figures in their neighborhood to reconcile them.
She added that he pledged to treat her in a good manner.
2) Mrs. Zakia Hussein Ismail:
She was a young woman who got married to a man without being aware of his former crimes. She did not discover such a fact until after marriage and after begetting him a daughter and a son.
During her second pregnancy, the husband was arrested to execute a ruling sentencing him to a 3-year-imprisonment.
Despite the fact that she had the right to get divorced, she refused and decided to stand by him to maintain the family and with the hope that he would become better.
Having ended the imprisonment period, he started assaulting and humiliating her.
He used to take her money to spend it on his bad companions.
She asked him to divorce her and he did but he took the children away from her.
She came to EOHR asking the Legal Aid Project to file a case for her to annex the children and it was executed.
3) Mrs. Mese'da Ibrahim Abdel Hamid:
This woman came to EOHR with a personal status complaint.
The Legal Aid Project managed to get her judicial rulings to her benefit.
A ruling authorized her to get 4,200 LE as alimony and then they were implemented through administrative sequestration.
The following procedures were taken:
1- Case No. 27 of 2002/imprisonment was filed due to blocked tuition fees. After the defendant was imprisoned, the woman received a sum of 102,880 LE.
2- Case No. 33 of 2002 was filed (children's support) that amounted to 6,400 LE.
She received the due money in one lot.
3- Case No. 264 of 2001 asking for tuition fees.
A ruling was passed granting her a sum of 264 LE.
Since the actual tuition fees are more than that, the ruling was appealed before Northern Giza Court and was registered under No. 818 of 2002 at Northern Appellate/law.
4) Mrs. Lawahiz Khalil Nasef:
She came to EOHR after her husband had expelled her from the marital household after a 33-year-marriage and divorced her in her absence.
EOHR filed case No. 103 of 2001 and a ruling was passed referring it to the day of the trial and the defendant had to pay a sum of 6000 LE as alimony.
EOHR appealed the ruling by case No. 20 and is still being deliberated.
5) Mrs. Hanan Abdel Fattah Muhammad:
She came to EOHR complaining of the maltreatment of her husband.
She asked EOHR to interfere to settle the disputes that erupted between them due to his being a miser and not providing either for her or for her children.
The Legal Aid Project contacted him and tried to reconcile them. However, all such attempts ended in failure.
Consequently, the wife authorized EOHR full power of attorney to supervise the cases; of alimony and of children's expenses.
The woman was surprised by a notification of obedience which was sent to her by her husband at the marriage household.
EOHR supervised the cases as follows:
1- Filing case No. 737 of 2002 at Al Omrania/lawful calling for alimony and children's support. The court authorized her to get alimony of 150 LE and children's support of 250 LE to be equally distributed between her and her children.
2- Challenging the notification of obedience sent to the claimant under No. 1846 of 2002/lawful and is still being deliberated.
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