Journalist claims UAE had a role in freezing assets of Muslim Brotherhood leader

An Egyptian journalist who was detained in the United Arab Emirates in what is dubbed as “The UAE Muslim Brotherhood cell” claimed that the UAE may have a role in the Egyptian government’s decision to freeze assets of Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader Khairat al-Shater.

According to journalist Ahmed Gaafar, who was forcibly disappeared in the UAE for 16 months following the election of Mohamed Morsi as president in June 2012, UAE authorities had interrogated him regarding the assets of al-Shater while he was in detention.

In a Facebook post, Gaafar said that UAE intelligence asked him during interrogations whether he knew anything about the assets belonging to al-Shater and the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly ZAD supermarket chains. Gaafar replied that he was not aware of any such assets, and that UAE intelligence agencies should know better than him. He claimed that the interrogation was evidence of a possible UAE role in the freezing of Brotherhood assets lately.