A meeting between the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and presidents of Egypt’s national and regional judges’ clubs, to discuss judges’ dissatisfaction with Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah and their demands for his resignation, has “failed.”
The supreme council, a body of the highest-ranking judges tasked with governing the judiciary, told representatives of the judges that there was nothing they could do about removing the prosecutor general and that the matter was in the hands of the justice minister.
A spokesperson of the national Judges’ Club told Daily News Egypt the meeting “failed” and that the judges were currently meeting with Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki, who has the power to accept or refuse Abdullah’s resignation.
Abdullah was directly hired by President Mohamed Morsy as part of the 22 November constitutional decree rather than being nominated from within the judiciary, as per the judicial authority law and the new constitution.
His appointment triggered a nationwide judicial and prosecution strike that culminated in members of the prosecution surrounding the High Court building where his office is, demanding he step down.
Abdullah then submitted a written and signed resignation to the Supreme Council of the Judiciary only to go back on it a few days later, claiming he had been pressured into resigning. He later got rid of the assistant prosecutor general, a holdover from his predecessor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud’s term, accusing him of leading a plot.
Prosecutors released a statement saying they would pursue all available options to oust Abdullah and that they refused to work with him.
