Egypt's public prosecutor refused to resign on Thursday after President Mohammed Morsi ordered his removal to allay public anger over the acquittals of Mubarak-era officials."I remain in my post," Abdel Meguid Mahmud told news hounds. "According to the law, a judicial body cannot be dismissed by an executive authority."
Earlier, Morsi had issued a presidential decree "appointing prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud as Egypt's envoy to the Vatican," state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
According to the decree, Mahmud would be temporarily replaced by one of his aides.
Morsi appointed Mahmud to a post abroad because the Egyptian legal system does not give the president the power to dismiss the public prosecutor, judicial sources said.
Mahmud's removal came just a day after a Cairo court acquitted 24 people-- including the former speakers of Egypt's two houses of parliament Safwat al-Sherif and Fathi Surur -- of organizing a notorious camel-borne assault on protesters last year.