Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Contradicting a court appeal denial, the head of Egypt's Judges' Club, Ahmed El-Zend declares Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud as the 'legitimate' prosecutor-general on Tuesday afternoon.
In a televised press conference held at the Judges Club, El-Zend, seated next to Mahmoud, said the finding that Mahmoud is the "legitimate prosecutor-general" is a "victory" and "historic moment," although the appeal court – whose rulings are final - had rejected Mahmoud's request to be reinstated.
Brotherhood-fielded President Mohamed Morsi tried to reshuffle Mahmoud in October and in the next month went on to appoint Talaat Abdullah via a highly-controversial constitutional declaration. Ever since this position has been a source of political and legal wrangling.
A Cairo appeal court on Tuesday morning upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss prosecutor-general Abdullah and dismissed Mahmoud from his position in the same breath. Assistant Prosecutor-General Hassan Yassin was tapped to temporarily fill the position.
Mahmoud announced in the Judges' Club press conference that he is "making the necessary moves to find a legal context that will permit me to rightly return to the prosecutor-general position."
To clarify, Supreme Judicial Council announced Tuesday that it will issue a statement on Wednesday concerning the prosecutor-general court rulings.
In March, a court reversed Morsi's November 2012 appointment of Abdullah.
Judicial critics argue only the SJC has the power to appoint the prosecutor-general and, therefore, President Morsi had acted beyond his mandate when appointing Abdullah to the post.
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