Ekip
13 March 2016•Update: 18 March 2016
By Hussein Mahmoud
CAIRO
Egyptian Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zend has been sacked after making "offensive" comments about Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, Prime Minister Sharif Ismail announced Sunday evening.
"Sharif Ismail, head of the Council of Ministers, has decided to dismiss Ahmed al-Zend, minister of justice, from his post," government spokesman Hossam Alqaweesh told Anadolu Agency.
Earlier Sunday, two separate lawsuits were raised with Egypt’s prosecution authorities against al-Zend, accusing him of "insulting" Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
A judicial source, who preferred anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that Egyptian Attorney-General Nabil Sadiq had received two legal complaints against al-Zend based on recent televised remarks in which the latter had "insulted the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him".
According to lawyer Amr Abdel-Salam, who lodged the first complaint, al-Zend, when replying to a question about the detention of journalists, had said: "If the Prophet Muhammad -- peace be upon him -- insulted me, I would put him in jail".
After al-Zend’s comments sparked widespread public outrage, he was asked by the Council of Ministers to tender his resignation.
When the controversial justice minister refused the request, the decision was taken to sack him, according to reports in the state press.
Al-Zend, a prominent judicial figure under the former regime of President Hosni Mubarak, was a vocal supporter of the 2013 military coup that unseated Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president.
