Mahfouz Saber

Mahfouz Saber
Minister of Justice
In office
17 June 2014 – 11 May 2015
PresidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi
Prime MinisterIbrahim Mahlab
Succeeded byAhmed El-Zend
Personal details
Born1945 (1945)
Gharbia Governorate, Kingdom of Egypt
Died24 February 2023(2023-02-24) (aged 77–78)
OccupationJudge

Mahfouz Saber (1945 – 24 February 2023) was an Egyptian politician and judge. He served as Minister of Justice in the Second and Third Mahlab Cabinet. He was in office from 17 June 2014 until he resigned on 11 May 2015.

Biography

Saber was born in Gharbia Governorate in 1945.[1] He obtained his law degree in 1965 from Alexandria University. From 1980 to 1992 he worked in various positions as prosecutor and attorney general.[1] From 2009 he served as assistant minister of justice for judicial inspection.[1] Saber was Secretary-General of the High Election Committee for the Parliamentary elections of 2011–12. [2] In 2012 he became first assistant minister of justice. On 1 July 2013 he was named president of Ismailia court of appeal.[1] He later also served as president of the Mansoura and Alexandria courts of appeal.[1]

Before his appointment as Minister of Justice in the Second Mahlab Cabinet on 17 June 2014[3] Saber was head of the disciplinary department at Cairo Appeal Court.[2]

He resigned on 11 May 2015 after stating that judges needed to come from "a respectable milieu" and that the son of a trash collector "would get depressed and would not continue" as a judge.[4] His remarks obtained criticism for being elitist.[5] Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab stated that Saber had resigned out of respect for the public opinion.[4] Saber was succeeded by Ahmed El-Zend, who would later also lose his position over comments he made in public.[6]

He died on 24 February 2023, aged 78.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "معلومات عن المستشار محفوظ صابر المتوفى اليوم.. وزير العدل في حكومة محلب" (in Arabic). El Watan News. 24 February 2023. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b Ibrahim Qassem (27 February 2014). "Judge at Cairo Appeal Court to be appointed as justice minister". The Cairo Post. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Breaking: New government swears in". The Cairo Post. 17 June 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Egypt's justice minister sacked over social class remarks". BBC News. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Egypt justice minister quits over social class remarks". Al Jazeera. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  6. ^ Varandani, Suman (14 March 2016). "Egypt's Justice Minister Ahmed Al-Zind Sacked Over Blasphemous Remarks About Jailing Prophet Muhammad". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018.