Egypt asks the West to freeze opponents' bank accounts

The Egyptian government said on Sunday that it has asked five EU countries and the United States to freeze the bank accounts of 30 opposition figures living abroad, Anadolu news agency has reported. The request was made by the head of a government panel tasked with managing the funds seized from the Muslim Brotherhood when the Islamic movement was banned.

Yasser Abul-Fotouh said that he asked for funds belonging to the members of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council to be frozen. The council is a political body established in Istanbul by Egyptians opposing the military coup in their country. A number of its members are affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abdul-Mawgoud Al-Dardiri, a member of the council based in London, condemned the panel for making the request. “We have not heard of any western government which has responded to Egypt’s absurd request,” he told Anadolu. “Western countries respect the rights of their residents.” He noted that a court order was needed for governments in the West to fulfil such a demand.

Since it was founded in late 2013, the government panel has confiscated the funds of dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members. Two months ago, it announced that it had confiscated the local assets of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council’s members. Last week, Judge Adel Fahmy revealed that Egypt has asked the EU to freeze the assets of two other Brotherhood members.