Egypt's official gazette lists Muslim Brotherhood, 215 people as terrorists

Egypt’s official gazette al-Wakaei al-Masriya revealed in an appendix published on Sunday a court ruling which was issued in April and which lists the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation and 215 persons as terrorists for three years, without mentioning specific court cases that they could be facing.

The court’s decision was issued on 14 April 2016 and the sentences handed down by the court are in effect since that date.

Egypt designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in December 2013, a decision which was rejected by the group at the time.

“We were surprised by the decision and we were not informed about it by the court. We intend to appeal it at the Court of Cassation [Egypt’s highest court] if we obtain more details on the case,” says Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s defence team.

A law on terrorist entities, issued by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in February 2015, requires the public prosecution to prepare a list of the “terrorist entities” against which court verdicts were issued to confirm this label.

Organisations may be considered “terrorist” also by virtue of rulings by relevant circuits of the Cairo Appeals Court or based on requests made by the country’s top prosecutor.