Cairo: Egyptian veteran judge, Ahmad Al Zend, known for his outspoken criticism of the Muslim brotherhood, was appointed on Wednesday as justice minister.
State television reported that President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi swore in Al Zend, who heads the country’s judicial union, the Club of Judges.
Al Zend, 69, replaces Mahfouz Saber, who last week stepped down amid a row caused by a TV statement in which he said that sons of cleaning workers cannot become judges because of their social background.
Detractors of Al Zend say he favours the appointment of judges’ sons in the judiciary and is a loyalist of former president Husny Mubarak, who was forced out of power in the 2011 uprising.
Al Zend’s backers say he led the opposition to the now-ousted president Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood when the Islamist leader issued in 2012 a controversial decree making his decisions beyond judicial review.
In recent months, Egyptian courts have passed heavy sentences against dozens of the Brotherhood’s leaders including Mursi, amid international denunciations that the trials lacked guarantees for fair prosecution .
Egyptian authorities have repeatedly dismissed the criticism, saying the country’s judiciary operates independently.
