Egypt court rejects lawsuit seeking to include Hamas on list of terrorist organisations

The Cairo Court of Urgent Matters on Thursday ruled that it has no jurisdiction to consider a lawsuit demanding the inclusion of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Egypt’s list of terrorist organisations.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency quoted a judicial source as saying that the Second Circuit Court for Urgent Matters in Alexandria also issued a similar decision on 27 April.

Abdul Rahim Ali, an MP, filed the lawsuit, accusing the movement of assassinating former Attorney General Hisham Barakat who was killed in an attack on his motorcade in June last year.

Ali based his claim on the Egyptian Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Gaffer, who said earlier in March that members of Hamas trained the Muslim Brotherhood elements responsible for the attack. The accusations have been denied by Hamas.

The Urgent Matters Appeals Court abolished in June 2015 a decision to label Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, a terrorist group saying that the court had no jurisdiction to make such a declaration.