CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's interim government has ordered the assets of more than 500 Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist leaders seized — including those of the country's ousted president — as part of an ever-tightening crackdown on the group, senior judicial and security officials said Tuesday.
Abdel-Azzem el-Ashri, a Justice Ministry spokesman, said that a ministerial inventory committee ordered the "movable and immovable properties" of 572 Muslim Brotherhood leaders seized. Another Justice Ministry official said leaders on the list included toppled President Mohammed Morsi and his family, as well as provincial Brotherhood leaders and members of its General Guidance Bureau, which is the group's executive body.
A security official said the list also included female Muslim Brotherhood members like Azza el-Garf and wife of leader Khairat el-Shater and his daughter. He said other Islamist leaders include Assem Abdel-Maged, the leader of Gamaa Islamiyah, which waged an anti-government insurgency in 1990s against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
The two officials said that the list includes those indicted in cases of inciting violence and those are under investigation or could be investigated. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
The order is part of a wider state crackdown on the Brotherhood, first banned by a court order in September and declared a "terrorist" organization by the military-backed interim government last week. The court order allowed the government to form the committee that inventoried of the group's finances and ordered its confiscation.
The government made the "terrorist" designation by linking it to a wave of recent militant attacks targeting security forces without publicly presenting any evidence backing its claim. The move signaled a new era of zero tolerance of the group and ended any reconciliation efforts.
The group denies being involved in the attacks and continues to hold near-daily protests demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, toppled in a July 3 military coup after millions rallied against him.
http://townhall.com/news/world/2013/12/31/egypt-seizes-assets-of-muslim-brotherhood-leaders-n1770301
