(AFP File Photo)
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters issued an order Sunday declaring the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) a banned terrorist organisation.
Head of the Nedal Office for Rights and Freedoms Ahmed Ibrahim had filed a lawsuit demanding the banning of the group, and the charging of any affiliated members with “terrorism”.
The extremist group is currently controlling large areas in Iraq and Syria, and is engaged in violent battles with the US-lead international coalition and Kurdish troops. It has slaughtered thousands of opponents to its ideology, including foreign journalists, aid workers, Iraqi army soldiers, and Iraqi Shi’as, Christians, and Yazidis.
The group espouses a radical takfiri ideology and claims to have re-established the Islamic caliphate. Last September it called for more attacks in Egypt. It praised strikes against “the soldiers of Al-Sisi” in Sinai and urging Sinai-based militants to “continue on this path”.
ISIS rebranded itself as ‘Islamic State’ over the summer after claiming territories in Syria and Iraq. Its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was appointed ‘Caliph’ and is known as ‘Caliph Ibrahim’ by the group.
Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM) recently pledged allegiance to Al-Baghdadi, changing its name to ‘State of Sinai’.
State of Sinai claimed responsibility for a deadly truck bomb attack on Egypt’s armed forces on 24 October, which killed at least 27 soldiers, as well as other attacks last Friday against army personnel.
