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.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75496.aspx