Egyptian authorities detain former deputy public prosecutor

Egyptian coup authorities detained on Monday the veteran judicial activist and former parliamentarian Mahmoud Al-Khudairi.

The first deputy of the Egyptian Interior Ministry, Brigadier Ameen Ezzidin, issued the detention order against the lawyer Al-Khudairi. He was reported by Egyptian mass media as saying that the detention order was issued based on a decision by the current public prosecutor.

Al-Khudairi is a former deputy head of the Egyptian Court of Cassation and a prominent leader of the movement for an independent judiciary, which was launched during the judicial crisis in Egypt in 2005 and 2006.

He was also the head of the legislative and constitutional committee in the former Egyptian parliament, which was freely elected in wake of the 25 January Revolution.

Nearly all Egyptian national and political parties and NGOs have condemned Al-Khodairi’s detention.

Al-Khudairi was born in 1940 in Tahta, located in the centre of the Sohaj governorate. He earned his law license in 1963 from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ain Shams.

He started working as a public prosecutor that same year. He was promoted several times until he became deputy attorney general. Additionally, he was elected as head of the Judges Club on 7 May 2004.