Prominent Judge To Be Egypt’s New Justice Minister

Egyptian appeals court judge Ahmed Mekky said he has accepted the post of justice minister in Egypt’s first cabinet in the government of newly elected President Mohamed Mursi, and is to be sworn in with other cabinet officers on Thursday.

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, who had himself been a little known technocrat in the irrigation ministry until tapped by Morsi, formed the cabinet with career bureaucrats and at least three Islamist politicians, including the education minister.

The first permanent government since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year gives the once-banned Brotherhood, a powerful influence in Egypt, and Kandil’s decisions have faced opposition from non-Islamists who wanted a more inclusive government.

Although the judiciary, like most government offices during the Mubarak-era, was considered corrupt, many judges, including Mekky, gained public respect for supporting verdicts that were not in the interests of Mubarak’s ruling elite.

“I have accepted the post of minister of justice in the new cabinet,” Mekky, a deputy head of Egypt’s appeal court, told Reuters. “My main mission that I seek to achieve via this job is to promote social justice and independence of the judiciary system,” he added.

Reuters