President Mohamed Morsy was not handed a petition that requested that the Public Prosecutor remains in office, a top judge told Al-Masry Al-Youm Sunday.
The statement by Mohamed Momtaz Metwally, the head of the Court of Cassation and the Supreme Judicial Council, contradicts statements by presidency, which said that the council had submitted a petition to keep Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud in his position after President Mohamed Morsy fired him Thursday. Mahmoud refused to stand down, saying that the executive did not have the authority to dismiss him from a judicial position.
Presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali posted on his Facebook page what was said to be "the request of the Supreme Judicial Council on the subject of the Public Prosecutor." The posted document stated that the council members are asking the President that Mahmoud continues to do his job.
Metwally told Al-Masry Al-Youm that reports saying the council had petitioned Morsy were fabricated, denying the document circulating on social networking websites. He said that only information published by the council should be trusted.
He stressed that the episode had ended, and said that Mahmoud would continue to do his job as if nothing had happened.
Morsy's decision came in response to activist demands who accused the public prosecution service of failing to collect enough evidence to convict former regime figures accused of killing protesters during the 25 January revolution against ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
The decision came in the wake of acquitting the defendants accused of masterminding the attack on protesters in February 2011 in Tahrir Square, a case known in the media as the Battle of the Camel.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
