New Egyptian prosecutor

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi selected long-time judiciary official Hamada al-Sawy as public prosecutor, judicial sources said, a first appointment since the constitution was amended.

Egyptians approved constitutional changes in April, giving the president the power to choose head judges and the public prosecutor from a pool of senior candidates pre-selected by the judiciary.

Rights activists say Sisi has overseen a crackdown on dissent in Egypt since he was elected president in 2014, a year after the military he then commanded overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule.

At least 60 000 people were jailed on political grounds, Human Rights Watch estimates. Sisi denies holding political prisoners and backers say the security measures were necessary to stabilise Egypt after 2011.

Sawy, a long-serving judge and senior prosecutor, was assigned to the technical office of the Cairo Appeals Court in 2015. He later headed the complaints committee of the election commission and investigated corruption cases as a judge.

The public prosecutor was previously appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council, the governing body at the top of the Egyptian judicial ladder and approved by the presidency.