The appointment of the prosecutor general is the sole responsibility of the Supreme Judicial Council, and the Justice Ministry would not interfere in that decision, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky said. Mekky told the Judges Club Board of Directors that he would not pressure Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah to resign, according to Abdallah Fathi, the first undersecretary of the Judges Club, in a statement made during a press conference on Monday. Judges Club head Ahmed al-Zend said that the nation's judges would not be able to work under this “aggression against the judiciary.” The Judges Club is attempting to resolve the crisis through various means, Zend continued, adding that the judges would only accept a free, fully independent and impartial judiciary. Abdallah, who was appointed by President Mohamed Morsy in November via a constitutional decree, had promised to step down on 18 December after hundreds of prosecutors demonstrated in front of his office for his resignation. However, Abdallah backtracked shortly thereafter, saying he had only promised to resign under pressure from prosecutors, and that capitulating to such threats would set an unacceptable precedent. Judicial officials say the president does not have the authority to remove their members from office, as Morsy did by replacing the Mubarak-era Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud with Abdallah in his November decree. Edited translation from MENA
