Cairo court upholds freeze on assets of 29 MB members

CAIRO: A Cairo court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on the assets of 29 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt s largest opposition movement. The public prosecutor ordered the freeze on Jan. 28 after accusing the 29 of money laundering and other offences. The Islamist Brotherhood has dismissed the decision as a politically motivated attempt to disrupt the organization s activities. The members include Khayrat El-Shatir, the most senior Brotherhood member detained in a government crackdown which accelerated in December. Members of the Brotherhood, one of the oldest and most influential Islamist groups in the Arab world, won one fifth of the seats in the Egyptian parliament in elections in 2005. The Islamists, who advocate change through democratic means, had to run as independents because the government refuses to recognize their movement or let it form a political party. In its ruling, the court dismissed the Brotherhood s attempt to have the freeze overturned and appointed an official of state-run National Bank of Egypt to manage the assets. It said the prosecution had given enough evidence the accusations of money laundering were serious. The accused have been receiving money from outside the country to finance the Brotherhood s wicked activities, buying and setting up commercial companies and investment institutions as a cover to hide the sources of these funds, the court said. Authorities have given no estimate of the value of the assets. A Brotherhood official said on Wednesday 186 members of the group remain in custody.