Mahfouz Saber

Saber was born in Gharbia Governorate in 1945.^[1] He obtained his law degree in 1965 from Alexandria University. From 1980 to 1992 he worked in various positions as prosecutor and attorney general.^[1] From 2009 he served as assistant minister of justice for judicial inspection.^[1] Saber was Secretary-General of the High Election Committee for the Parliamentary elections of 2011–12.^[2] In 2012 he became first assistant minister of justice. On 1 July 2013 he was named president of Ismailia court of appeal.^[1] He later also served as president of the Mansoura and Alexandria courts of appeal.^[1]

Before his appointment as Minister of Justice in the Second Mahlab Cabinet on 17 June 2014^[3] Saber was head of the disciplinary department at Cairo Appeal Court.^[2]

He resigned on 11 May 2015 after stating that judges needed to come from "a respectable milieu" and that the son of a trash collector "would get depressed and would not continue" as a judge.^[4] His remarks obtained criticism for being elitist.^[5] Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab stated that Saber had resigned out of respect for the public opinion.^[4] Saber was succeeded by Ahmed El-Zend, who would later also lose his position over comments he made in public.^[6]

He died on 24 February 2023, aged 78.^[1]