Egypt freezes assets of Muslim Brotherhood leaders

A government-appointed committee decided Monday to freeze assets of 30 leaders of Egypt‘s Muslim Brotherhood, including 12 NGOs and companies, deputy Minister of Justice Ezzat Khamis, who has been appointed as head of the committee that oversees the assets and activities of the MB, said in a statement Monday.

Khamis, however, neither named the 30 leaders nor the properties whose assets will be frozen.

Secretary General of the Committee, Wadie Hannah Nashed, said the committee investigated a number of frozen assets, and discovered “criminal offenses”, which it referred to the prosecution for further investigation.

The same committee had previously frozen assets owned by dozens of MB leaders.

In September 2013, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters issued a verdict that banned all MB activities and froze all assets belonging to its leaders.

Since the July 3 military coup against the elected president Mohamed Morsi, the MB and Morsi supporters have been subjected to arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killings, mass death sentences and a myriad of human rights violations documented by international NGOs. The crackdown against Morsi supporters has been internationally denounced as politically motivated.