THE HAGUE, 09/09/08 - The Dutch Bar Association (Orde van Advocaten) disagrees with a Rotterdam court that has given an Islamic lawyer permission to remain seated when the judges enter. A Lower House majority is also shocked.

"Every lawyer must stand before a judge," Willem Bekkers, President of the Bar Association, insisted on Radio 1. "The Netherlands is a constitutional state. This means it has an independent judiciary and legal profession. In this role, they show deference and respect for each other."

The law does not explicitly state that a lawyer must show respect for the judges, but this is "good practice", Bekkers stated. He was not prepared to say whether lawyer Mohammed Enait was at risk of being expelled from the Bar.

Evening newspaper NRC Handelsblad wrote on Friday that a court in Rotterdam had agreed with Enait that he could remain seated because standing up would not be in keeping with his religious convictions. Enait, a fundamentalist Muslim, argued that he did not wish to stand up for the judges because all people are equal.

The governing Christian democrats (CDA) and the opposition conservatives (VVD) consider it unacceptable that Enait should no longer have to rise when the judges enter the court. The MPs do not agree that an exception should be made for him, and will raise the issue with Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin in the House today.

The Rotterdam court must reverse its decision, CDA MP Sybrand van Haersma Buma considers. If this does not happen, the Council for the Judiciary (Raad voor de Rechtspraak) should draw up a general rule stating that everyone should stand up when the judges enter, he says.

VVD MP Henk Kamp was also indignant. He referred to the decision as "the height of culture relativism" and wants an end to this "idiocy". Other parties were also critical.

Enait is a regular guest in talk shows. He refuses to shake hands with women, and was therefore rejected for a job as client manager by the Rotterdam city council. The Equal Treatment Commission (CGB), an advisory court, considered this to be discrimination, but a real court recently ruled in favour of the city council.

It then came to light that the website of Enait's law firm showed pictures of two porn actresses, supposedly the firm's secretaries. He claims the site was hacked, but cache date showed the photos had been there for years.