Hamas welcomes annulment of Egypt's 'terrorist' ruling

Palestinian Hamas movement has welcomed the annulment of a recent court ruling in Egypt which had rendered the group a “terrorist organisation.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has described the move as “an important step in the right direction.”

Last month, an Egyptian court designated Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the next-door Gaza Strip, a “terrorist” group over claims that it had carried out attacks in Egypt via tunnels linking the Sinai Peninsula to the blockaded coastal enclave.

But earlier this month, the Egyptian government said that it would appeal the verdict labelling Hamas a terrorist group.

However, Egyptian lawyer Samir Sabri, who had filed the lawsuit, withdrew the case on Thursday, rendering the ruling invalid.

Sabri said on Friday that his decision to withdraw the case was aimed at “removing obstacles which Egypt’s political leadership might face in serving its role in the Palestinian reconciliation.”

Cairo-Hamas relations had soured since the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsi in July of 2013, with Egypt’s government tightening its grip on the Rafah border crossing – Gaza’s only outlet to the world outside of Israel’s control.

Egyptian media blames Hamas, an ideological offshoot of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, for a series of deadly attacks on security forces carried out since Morsi’s ouster by the army in mid-2013.

Hamas, for its part, has consistently denied the claims.