Brotherhood To File New Lawsuit Fighting Court Ban

A member of a Muslim Brotherhood-led alliance has said that the Islamist group will not appeal a recent court verdict that banned the Brotherhood, but will instead appeal to a different court to overturn the ruling.

On 23 September the Cairo court for urgent matters ordered the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s activities and the seizure of the group’s funds.

Mamdouh Ahmed, a lawyer for the National Coalition to Support Legitimacy, told Ahram Online that the group will not appeal the court case, but will instead file a lawsuit with “another impartial court” to “derecognise the verdict, as the court it was issued by is incompetent to oversee the case.”

The 23 September verdict was the result of a lawsuit filed by the leftist Tagammu Party.

The Muslim Brotherhood existed outside of Egyptian law for decades and was only officially registered as an NGO in March 2013.

In response to the verdict, leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohamed Ali Bishr said the ruling should have been issued by the administrative court.

Bishr who at the time said that the group would appeal the verdict, also commented: “I don’t understand how a group can be dissolved when the charges facing its leaders are still being investigated.”

Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown against the Brotherhood following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi — who hails from the group — on 3 July.

The group’s Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat El-Shater, and senior member Mohamed El-Beltagy are among dozens of high and mid-level Brotherhood leaders who have been detained and face charges including incitement of violence against their opponents.

Egyptian prosecutors froze the assets of several senior Brotherhood leaders and other prominent Islamists in July as part of investigations into charges of incitement of violence at protests.

Source : Ahram