clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Egypt court considers banning April 6 movement

April 12, 2014 at 2:38 pm

The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters will consider on Saturday a claim filed by advocate Ashraf Saed demanding the April 6 movement be banned.


Saed demanded Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, Defence Minister General Sidqi Sobhi and Attorney General Hisham Barakat ban the activities of the movement, accusing it of distorting the Egyptian state image and espionage.

Founded in 2008, the April 6 movement was a political movement in opposition to former President Hosni Mubarak before it split into two movements due to internal disagreements between its members after the January 25, 2011, revolution; the April 6 led by Ahmed Maher and April 6 (Democratic Front).

Maher, the movement’s co-founder, is serving a three-year prison sentence for demonstrating without a permit. Cairo’s Court of Appeal is scheduled to issue its decision on Maher’s appeal on April 7.

Yesterday, both April 6 movements announced that they have organised a march which will start from the Journalists’ Syndicate in downtown Cairo on Sunday to mark the movement’s sixth anniversary.

The general coordinator of the April 6 movement, Amro Maher, told reporters that the organisation will not allow the Muslim Brotherhood or supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to exploit the march and there has been no coordination with them in any activities.

Hamdi Qeshta, member of the April 6 (Democratic Front)’s Political Bureau, said “members of the National Council for Human Rights were invited to attend the march” and the movement has not submitted a request to the Ministry of the Interior to organise the rally because it rejects the law.