Egypt’s Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky has resigned, officials in the Justice Ministry said on Sunday, after protests on Friday by President Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist backers demanding the “purification” of the judiciary.

Mekky was appointed in August. He was widely regarded as a supporter of judicial independence during the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak, but his critics had accused him of siding with the new Islamist-led authorities.

Reuters