An Egyptian court has ruled for the seizure and confiscation of the assets of 89 Muslim Brotherhood members, including the country's first and only democratically-elected President Mohammed Morsi.
According to the state-owned daily Akhbar al-Youm, "the Court for Urgent Matters in Cairo ordered the seizure of the assets of 89 leaders and members of the Brotherhood and the heirs of Morsi and their transfer to the treasury." The verdict included the group's supreme guide Mohammed Badie, his deputy, Khairat al-Shater, and other leaders, including Mohamed Beltagy, Abdel-Rahman al-Bar, and Ahmed Diab, as well as two ministers during Morsi's rule – former Youth Minister Osama Yassin and former Supply Minister Bassem Ouda.
The Egyptian daily El-Youm El-Sabee said the state-formed commission assigned to seize the group's assets brought the case before the court. It added that within the case, the commission demanded the justice minister, the head of the Land Registry and the Central Bank chief to transfer the seized assets to the state's treasury, according to Anadolu Agency (AA). The group has yet to comment on the verdict which is not clear whether it is final or subject to appeal.
Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented crackdown on dissent under the rule of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi since the ouster of Morsi.
Morsi was elected president in 2012 but was removed from office in a military coup a year later.
The military crushed the Muslim Brotherhood movement in a major crackdown, arresting Morsi and many of the group's other leaders who have been in prison undergoing multiple trials ever since the coup. Egyptian authorities have killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and sent thousands to prison for inciting violence. Activists consider the repression the worst in Egypt's modern history.
The country's authoritarian government has increasingly targeted journalists in an ongoing crackdown on dissent since the 2013 military coup. Egypt ranks 166th out of 180 countries in media watchdog Reporters Without Borders' 2020 world press freedom index.
Dozens of Egyptians took to the streets in several villages across Egypt in September last year, according to videos shared widely on social media, especially by sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
