The justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, was sworn in as Egypt’s new interim president on July 4. Mansour will serve as Egypt’s interim president

    until the constitution is amended and new elections are held.

    Egypt’s interim president: veteran judge, mystery man

    SINCE his appointment as Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour has been condemned and challenged by the ongoing unrest.

    Mansour now leads the most populous Arab nation, but to many he is, in many respects, a mystery man.

    Profiles of him in local and international media have stuck to the basics — where he was born, where he went to school, how he fared in his last job.

    Facts that hardly offer an insight into how Mansour will run the country until new elections are called — whenever that may be.

    But his low-key demeanor might be the very reason the military picked him, analysts say.

    “He represents what the military needs, a fairly low-profile but respected technorat,” said David Hartwell, a Middle East and North Africa analyst at Jane’s Islamic Affairs.

    One of his main roles will be to help draft a constitution, a job he is well-versed in as the head of the nation’s Supreme Constitutional Court.

    Mansour appointed a prime minister and vice president Tuesday, moves designed to lend an air of normalcy to the country even as indications mounted that the president is little more than a civilian face for military rule.

    Mansour appointed Mohamed El Baradei, National Salvation Front general coordinator, as vice president, MENA news reported, quoting presidential spokesman Ahmed al-Moslimani.

    Hazem Beblawi, an economist, was appointed as prime minister and was directed to form a new government.

    The appointments came hours after Mansour outlined a path to quick elections and a return to democracy after the coup earlier this month that overthrew Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

    The plan presented by Mansour drew immediate condemnation from Morsi’s supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood, but it also elicited a lukewarm response from key players in the loose alliance of politicians and activists who had lobbied for Morsi’s ouster.

    Egypt braced for further violence Tuesday as the Muslim Brotherhood called for an uprising after the killing of 53 backers of deposed Morsi.

    The Brotherhood called the killings a massacre, saying soldiers opened fire with live ammunition. The Islamist religious, political and social movement emailed links to YouTube videos it alleged showed civilian victims being carried away from the scene of the mass shooting.

    Egypt’s official media said 435 people were injured in a clash between the military and supporters of Morsi during dawn prayers in Cairo near where Morsi has been held under house arrest since he was ousted.

    Egypt’s military denied the massacre allegations, saying soldiers defended themselves after they were attacked with guns and Molotov cocktails.

    The military said 42 protesters and a soldier were killed.

    Mansour announced a judicial investigation into the killings, but angry crowds massing through the night at a mosque, a focal point for pro-Morsi protests, said the investigation would be meaningless.

    Mansour was born in Cairo, and attended law school at a local university before heading to Paris for studies.

    Appointed vice president of the court in 1992 by former leader Hosni Mubarak, he is also one of its longest serving judges.

    Morsi appointed him to the judicial role last month after the former chief’s term expired. He assumed the top judiciary post as a result of a law that mandates that the chief should be hired from within the system.

    His work spans two regimes — Mubarak’s and Morsi’s.

    Mansour also helped draft the elections laws that set the time frame for campaigning in the 2012 vote that brought Morsi to power, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

    The 67-year-old is married and a father of three.

    Though virtually unknown — no one was chanting his name on the streets as a potential replacement — he is viewed as an independent.

    “In a sense, you could argue that’s what the military wanted,” Hartwell said.

    The army seized power after Mubarak was toppled, but lost popularity after cracking down on continuing protests. Morsi’s election win last year was welcomed as a win over military rule.

    “This time, they (the military) are looking to perform an indirect role,” Hartwell said. “They don’t have any desire for some kind of public body.”

    During the anti-Morsi protests that led to his ouster, some opposition groups had called for the head of the constitutional court to take over the running of the country.

    Mansour’s appointment is likely to appease them.

    He will “establish a government that is strong and diverse,” said Gen. Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, the nation’s top military officer.

    Until parliamentary elections are held, the interim president will have the power to issue constitutional declarations.(SD-Agencies)