Justice Minister Ahmed El-Zend has decided to cancel the annual judicial leave this year in order for judges to close ongoing cases in all courts, the Ahram Arabic news website reported.
"We will work at full capacity this summer for the soul of the martyr Hisham Barakat,” El-Zend said at the funeral of slain top prosecutor Hisham Barakat in New Cairo on Tuesday.
In Egypt, judicial leave traditionally lasts for a period of three months, from July to September, during which the entire judiciary process is halted.
The courts also refrain from accepting new lawsuits throughout this period.
El-Zend added that judges will keep on fighting for what they stand for,"" stressing that Egypt “will not be silenced”.
“We are not afraid of death,” El-Zend said. "I might be killed next after Barakat, but I don’t mind."
El-Zend, along with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other ministers and top officials, joined dozens of mourners in a short military procession behind soldiers carrying wreaths to honour the slin chief prosecutor.
El-Sisi on Monday had ordered a military funeral for the late prosecutor.
Barakat had died in hospital on Monday afternoon after he was seriously injured in a bomb attack in Heliopolis, Cairo.
