Mohamed El-Bakkeir is a lawyer of Nubian origin who recently declined a prominent position with Egypt's prosecution in the absence of justice. He is also a Salafist who isn't party to any of Egypt's formal Salafist groupings.

In a conversation with Ahram Online, El-Bakkeir spoke about his revolutionary faith and his ongoing calls for the demands of the 25 January Revolution, which, he says, remain unfulfilled.

Excerpts

· When I joined the 25 January demonstrations, and when I spent 18 days in Tahrir Square, I wasn't doing so simply to oust Hosni Mubarak. My objective was to end the state of injustice and allow dignity, security and egalitarianism to reign supreme.

· The road to establishing dignity and equality is still to be walked, because in fact, while we ousted Mubarak, we failed to remove his regime and we are still living under the rule of his 'deep state.'

· People keep saying that the Muslim Brotherhood are partners to the Mohamed Morsi administration, but they tend to ignore the fact that Mubarak's entourage is also a partner to this administration… this entourage has reformulated itself to fit the new regime, but is in fact still pursuing its old agenda.

· It will take a deep purge of state institutions before we can claim that we successfully removed all the remnants of the Mubarak regime. This will require a political commitment and energy that the Morsi administration has not demonstrated.

· I had to force myself to vote for Morsi simply because I did not think he was up to the task of revolutionising the system; we needed a revolutionary for the job.   

· The Muslim Brotherhood's 'national renaissance' scheme was exaggerated, I think, simply because, in order to achieve this, Egypt needs to be truly independent at all levels: politically, economically and militarily. Yet I don't see this happening at all.

· I think where we are today has a lot to do with the erroneous beginning of the political process, which began with the March 2011 referendum [on constitutional amendments] in which I voted 'no'… But I think the biggest mistake was on 11 February 2011, when the revolutionaries were naïve enough to agree to quit Tahrir Square without having a clear plan for post-Mubarak Egypt. Since then, things have mostly gone in the wrong direction.

· I voted against the draft constitution because it fails to respond to legitimate demands for dignity and egalitarianism. When we demonstrated to end the Mubarak regime, we wanted to remove the regime that had obstructed justice and introduce another that allows for fairness. This should have included Mubarak's constitution, which I think was replaced by a constitution that is different in text but not much different in spirit.

· I am convinced that Islamic Law offers a comprehensive ruling system that – if properly applied – would help bring about justice and dignity. But the Muslim Brotherhood is not applying Islamic Law. In reality, the Brotherhood is far too busy with its scheme to control state bodies; this has become the group's priority ahead of all others.

· I understand the apprehension of those who fear Islamic Law, but I think it is a misconception that overlooks Islam's basic rejection of theocracy.

· I don't subscribe to the argument that suggests that Morsi's ouster would be detrimental to the state, but I'm convinced that toppling Morsi away from the ballot box would bring about a wave of instability the consequences of which would be difficult to predict.

· I think that the basic problem we have today is not between those who are labelled Islamists and those labelled anti-Islamists – a division that was fabricated by state bodies with an interest in eliminating the revolutionary spirit that united the nation. The real division is between those who believe in the need for firm and revolutionary change and those who still subscribe to the notion of reform. Without fundamental changes, we will not get rid of the interest groups that benefited through the Mubarak years and that are still operating today.

· I am totally opposed to the re-engagement of the Supreme Military Council into politics. We should remind those who are lobbying for the army's return of the crimes committed under military rule.