An Egyptian court has added 13 accused in the case known as “al-Amal (Hope) Cell” to the country’s “terrorism list” for a period of five years
The Cairo Criminal Court’s decision includes former legislator Zyad Elelaimy and other leaders in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
In its ruling Saturday, the court said Brotherhood members had tasked “other members of the group... including Ramy Shaath and Elelaimy” with carrying out activities against the state.
Shaath is the son of Nabil Shaath, the senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and his family had requested the Egyptian authorities in August to release him.
“The Brotherhood fugitive leaders, including Mahmoud Fathi, Ahmed Mohammed Abdel Hadi and Ali al-Sayyed Ahmed, have plotted to provide financial support for their hostile actions against the Egyptian state, with the aim of harming national interest and economic security and carrying out aggressive actions against the army and the police,” the court statement read.
The Brotherhood leaders have tasked some of the members and associates inside the country with providing logistic support, such as weapons and firearms, needed to carry out their anti-government plots, the statement added.
In August 2019, the court authorized freezing the assets of 83 convicts and confiscating the funds of 19 companies and the public prosecution charged them with “joining and participating in financing the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Authorities classify the Brotherhood as a terrorist group and have added hundreds of people to the terrorism list in recent years, including fugitives and detainees.
In June 2019, the Interior Ministry announced the raid of at least 19 businesses and economic entities – with a total turnover of 250 million Egyptian pounds – for their links to the Brotherhood and funding of a plot to target state institutions.
