Egypt freezes assets of 901 Brotherhood members

An Egyptian government-appointed panel has frozen the assets of 901 Muslim Brotherhood members and 1,096 Brotherhood-affiliated charities.

“The funds of 901 Brotherhood leaders and members have been frozen,” panel head Ezzat Khamis said in a press conference yesterday.

He said the panel had seized 522 offices of the disbanded Justice and Freedom Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 54 Brotherhood-owned premises.

“Some 360 vehicles and 328 feddans [138 acres] of land owned by Brotherhood members have also been seized,” he said.

Khamis said that the panel had also seized 532 Brotherhood-affiliated companies and 28 hospitals and medical centres.

“Some 1,096 Brotherhood-affiliated NGOs and 82 schools have also been seized,” he said.

In September 2013, an Egyptian court banned the activities of the decades-old Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which ousted President Mohamed Morsi hails.

The court had also ordered the group’s dissolution and the confiscation of its offices and funds.

Following the ruling, the government formed a committee tasked with managing the group’s assets.

In December 2013, the government declared the Brotherhood a “terrorist” group, blaming it for a spate of deadly attacks on security personnel.

The Brotherhood, for its part, has repeatedly dismissed the accusations calling them politically motivated.