The public prosecution in Minya, Upper Egypt, will interrogate Hussein Anan, Matay district attorney, who had ordered the Islamic punishment of lashing for a drunk man.
Anan ordered Mohamed Eid Ragab to be whipped after he had been arrested while he was drunk and in possession of 25 grams of hashish.
State-run al-Gomhurriya newspaper said in a report published on Tuesday that the ruling released Ragab and that the punishment was not executed.
Anan’s deputy suspended the execution of the penalty and informed the Public Prosecutor who ordered him to be interrogated.
Hossam Badawi, a judiciary inspector, said Anan ordered police to commit a crime against a citizen. “He had the authority to detain the suspect, but he applied Sharia instead, which is only permitted in line with the law and only by a judge not a prosecutor”.
In Egypt’s Constitution, drafted last year by a mainly-Islamist assembly, the principles of Islamic Sharia are the main source of legislation.
