Lawsuit to nationalise assets of 89 Muslim Brotherhood officials

A committee specialising in the seizure of assets belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has filed a lawsuit to nationalise the funds of 89 members of the group, including the heirs of the deceased President Mohamed Morsi, according to local sources.

The government has set up a committee to count and manage the funds of the Muslim Brotherhood since the group was declared a “terrorist organisation” in December 2013.

The pro-opposition news website, Mada Masr, cited legal sources who said “a lawsuit has been filed before the Court for Urgent Matters, calling for the disposition and transfer of ownership of funds owned by a number of members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to integrate in the national treasury”.

The website stated that “the court has scheduled a hearing session on 27 September to deliberate on the case”.

The trial includes 89 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, notably the heirs of the late former President Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected civilian president, Deputy General Leader Khairat Al-Shater, Abdel-Rahman Al-Barr, Mohamed Al-Beltagy, Safwat Hijazi, Mahmoud Ghazlan and others, they added.

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In March this year, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi approved the amendments to the Terrorist Entities Act, allowing the extension of the confiscation and freezing of assets, funds and property of persons on terrorist and terrorism lists.

The Muslim Brotherhood and its members have repeatedly denied any links to terrorism and said such accusations are an effort by the government to quash opposition groups.