Morsi-era prosecutor general, judges sent on forced retirement

The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is sending former Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah into forced retirement along with seven judges allegedly affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, the state-owned news site EgyNews reported on Monday.

Abdallah, who served in ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s administration, faces accusations of planting surveillance devices in the prosecutor’s office to spy on current Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat after he was removed from his position following Morsi’s fall. Abdallah’s aide, Hassan Yassin, was also implicated in the case, though he was later cleared of the charges.

The seven judges — Hazem Saleh, Mohamed Attalah, Mostafa Dewedar, Emad al-Bendary, Ayman Youssef, Ahmed Radwan and Emad Abu Hashim — were formerly members of the Judges for Egypt coalition that declared support for Morsi when the military removed him from office in July 2013. The coalition came to prominence during the 2012 presidential election when it preemptively named Morsi the winner, though the High Elections Commission is the only body that can officially declare electoral results.

Some of the judges also held a press conference in support of Morsi’s controversial November 22, 2012 decree that granted him wide political powers and judicial immunity.

The SJC ruled that the judges’ political involvement violated the Judicial Authority Law, and also accused the judges of participating in the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in organized to protest Morsi’s ouster, appearing on the protest camp’s main stage to criticize the judicial system and its anti-Morsi bias.