A court in Egypt has banned the April 6 Youth Movement that spearheaded the uprising against former Egyptian ruler, Hosni Mubarak.
On Monday, the court issued the ruling against the movement based on a complaint that accused the group of defaming the country and colluding with foreign parties.
The movement turned into a critic of the military-backed regime after authorities stepped up pressure on dissidents following the ouster of former president, Mohamed Morsi, back in July 2013.
The group’s leader, Ahmed Maher, was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2013 for violating a law banning all but police-sanctioned protests.
The latest ruling comes after a group of pro-government lawyers filed a lawsuit against the group and called for military-installed interim President Adly Mansour to freeze the movement’s activities and confiscate its headquarters.
The lawyers say the lawsuit was based on recordings aired on television by a hostile TV presenter.
“The recordings showed the movement had received foreign funding,” media outlets quoted Lawyer Ashraf Saeed as saying.
Meanwhile, a court has sentenced to death 683 supporters of Morsi. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Party, Mohamed Badie, is among the defendants.
This comes as international bodies and human rights groups have already denounced such rulings as a grotesque example of the shortcomings of Egypt’s justice system.
Figures show Egypt’s military-backed government has jailed nearly 16,000 people over the past few months.
JR/AB/SS
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