Egypt deputy PM resigns amid protests

Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister Yehia el-Gamal has resigned. (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188831.html

Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister Yehia el-Gamal has resigned from his post after facing incessant calls from protesters to quit.

Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf accepted the resignation of his deputy premier who had come under severe criticism for showing support for businessmen backed by the toppled regime of Hosni Mubarak, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Gamal's resignation was turned down by the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Hussein Tantawi on Wednesday last week. However, the council said earlier Tuesday that it supported the premier's decision.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to a one-year suspended jail term for graft.

Former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, one of the most hated figures of Mubarak's regime, received five years and former Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali was given ten years in absentia, both on corruption charges.

Adli and Boutros-Ghali have both been sentenced in other cases. However, it was the first time Nazif has received a court conviction. The three were fined $15.6 million with another $16.9 million for Boutros-Ghali and Adli.

Despite the trials, one of the main demands of Egyptians since the revolution nearly five months ago, protesters continued their sit-in in the capital Cairo's Liberation Square for the fifth day on Tuesday.

Protesters have been camping out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in the canal city of Suez since Friday.

Demonstrators are also calling for the ouster of Tantawi who served Mubarak's regime as defense minister for nearly two decades.

"The people want the fall of the Field Marshall," protesters chanted.