clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Egypt seizes assets of 30 opposition figures

February 20, 2015 at 12:32 pm

The Egyptian authorities have confiscated the assets of 30 members of the revolutionary council; an opposition coalition founded by members living in exile.

Mohammed Yasser Abu El-Fotouh, the secretary-general of the government panel tasked with managing the Muslim Brotherhood’s seized funds, said yesterday that the committee headed by first assistant justice minister, Ezzat Khamis, decided to confiscate all the funds and property belonging to the 30 members of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council.

Reuters quoted a source in the committee as saying that “the revolutionary council’s members met in Turkey three months ago mainly with members of the Muslim Brotherhood international organisation with the aim of supporting the group”.

The same source added that the list of members whose assets will be confiscated include, advisor, Walid Sharabi, a spokesman for the judges for Egypt movement, Amr Darraj, and journalist Ayat Orabi, advisor Imad Abuhashim, as well as Osama Rushdie, Ali Khalifa, Maha Azzam and others.

The committee announced on January 22 that it had confiscated the assets of more than 1,000 charities and 532 companies, and dozens of schools owned by members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, only one day after the issuance of a court ruling invalidating the decisions to withhold the money.

In August last year, Egyptian politicians, academics and intellectuals representing different spectrums of the political forces which oppose the current authorities in Egypt launched the Egyptian Revolutionary Council in Istanbul, to be “an entity that represents Egyptians abroad who maintain the principles of the January 25 2011 Revolution”.

The council expressed concern two days ago over the sale of French Rafale fighter jets to Egypt, saying the country does not need the fighter jets at this time and does not have the financial capacity to pay for them.

The council said in a statement that it had sent a message to the French president and the French Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs stressing it rejection of the deal specially “since the current regime does not represent the Egyptian people” and explaining that “this agreement will not be financially or politically binding for the Egyptian people after the coup falls”.

The committee chairman, Ezzat Khamis said in previous statements that the committee has confiscated the assets of 901 members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood while lifted the confiscation orders for five members” adding that “the committee considers the confiscation of assets for 166 new people.

Khamis declined to disclose the confiscated assets total value citing “confidentiality”.