(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Egypt swore in a new justice minister Wednesday whom critics accuse of "elitism" and who is known for his anti-Islamist views, nine days after his predecessor resigned over controversial comments.
"Ahmed al-Zind was sworn in in front of the president and in the presence of the prime minister," a statement from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's office said.
Zind takes over from Mahfouz Saber, whose resignation was announced on May 11 after he said that becoming a judge was too lofty an ambition for the sons of cleaners.
Zind has never concealed his animosity towards Islamists and the 2011 uprising that ousted ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
Under Mubarak, he openly supported him and opposed a judges movement that called for judicial independence and reform.
Zind also fervently opposed Mohamed Morsi, the one-year president who rose from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood and was ousted in 2013 by then army chief Sisi.
Saber's remarks that led to his resignation were not the first from the judiciary to cause controversy in a country where government figures show at least 26 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
Zind is no different from his predecessor, one legal expert said, describing Zind as "elitist".
"They appointed someone who shares the same ideas and line of thought, yet more extreme," Adel Ramadan of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP.
"Zind managed to secure several social privileges for judges; he seeks to sustain these privileges, which makes him popular in judicial circles," Ramadan added.
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