Egypt’s Prosecutor General submits resignation

Egypt’s Prosecutor General, recently appointed by the President Mohamed Mursi, has submitted his resignation to the head of the Supreme Judicial Council after growing demands by hundreds of public prosecutors.

Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah, who resigned yesterday, was asked to submit the resignation to the council on the meeting next Sunday, a day after the second phase of the referendum on the new constitution is held.

Members of the Egyptian prosecution had gathered in the early afternoon at the premises of the Judges Club in downtown Cairo before heading off to the offices of the Prosecutor General.

They surrounded the office and said they would continue the protest until the prosecutor resigns.

They were objecting to a decision by Abdallah to move a member of the general prosecution, Mustafa Khater, from Cairo to Upper Egypt.

Khater had released all suspects, citing lack of evidence after violence began December 5 when Mursi’s supporters set upon opposition protesters outside the presidential palace.

He released all the 137 arrested unconditionally after the Egyptian President Mohamad Mursi had given a statement saying the arrested confessed to masterminding a foreign plot against stability in Egypt.

The Prosecutor General is said to have reprimanded Khater because he embarrassed the president.

Although, the decision to remove Khater was later suspended, members of the Prosecutor General decided to protest as part of the ongoing tension between the Muslim Brotherhood and the judiciary and out of fear similar incidents might be repeated in the future.

The Prosecutor General was appointed by the President by virtue of a controversial constitutional referendum that was issued on November 22. Though the declaration was later cancelled, the Prosecutor General remained in his post. He is known to be closely linked with the Muslim Brotherhood.