4,000 Egyptian workers to be fired on charges of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood

News reports have revealed the Egyptian government’s intention to fire nearly 4,000 public and private sector employees on charges of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Interior Ministry also announced yesterday, in two separate statements, its arrest of 60 members of the Brotherhood on charges of gathering to protest next 25 January, to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2011 revolution.

Alyoum7 newspaper reported yesterday that the arrests occurred after members of the Muslim Brotherhood were implicated in the disastrous flooding of Alexandria that caused several deaths.

The newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that over 4,000 Brotherhood leaders are still present in various neighbourhoods and municipalities as directors, ministry representatives, or heads of sectors.

The newspaper also reported that the Minister of Local Development Ahmed Zaki Badr tasked the ministry’s investigations agency with making a list of the names of individuals associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who currently hold leadership positions in order to send it to the monitoring parties.

According to Alyoum7, the sources reported that the monitoring parties are supervising the plan to fire the Brotherhood members and that the plan is due to be presented to the prime minister. This will then be submitted to the president’s administration for review before measures are taken in this regard.

According to reports by monitoring parties, the number of Muslim Brotherhood members working in municipality offices and the Local Development Ministry has exceeded 800, and that the “purging” process will be carried out by firing Brotherhood leaders from any vital position in the state.