Egypt to seize another 66 Muslim Brotherhood-owned companies

An Egyptian government committee announced on Thursday that it had frozen the financial assets of 66 companies owned by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Judge Wadih Hanna, a member of the government committee, told reporters on Thursday that, “The panel froze the assets of 66 companies owned by Muslim Brotherhood leaders.”

Most of the companies are owned by Deputy Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat Al-Shater and businessman Hasan Malek.

The judge did not explain the reasons behind the committee’s decision. The Egyptian government formed the committee to manage the funds of the Muslim Brotherhood, following its decision to ban the movement last year.

For her part, Azza Tawfiq, Al-Shater’s wife, told Anadolu agency that, “they attack the stores, and their owner is jailed in the Tora prison and has been denied the right to visits, denied access to external food and clothing, and deprived of everything.”

She added: “They will not enjoy anything and will not benefit from the injustice and oppression. Tomorrow is not far away from where we are.”

This is not the first time that the Egyptian government has frozen the assets of leading Muslim Brotherhood figures. Since its formation last September, the committee has frozen the assets of scores of the group’s leaders.

For example, the same committee decided on 15 June to freeze the assets of two famous food chains: one owned by Al-Shater and the other owned by leading Brotherhood member Abdul Rahman Seoudi, who lives abroad.

Last September, Egypt’s court of urgent matters issued a verdict banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and all its affiliated organisations, as well as freezing all of their assets.

On 24 June, the Administrative Court that looks into the validity of the government’s decisions issued a ruling in favour of reversing some of the decisions against the Muslim Brotherhood, but the committee then challenged this ruling.