Despite a recent judicial verdict that eliminated the state’s freeze imposed on the assets of former footballer Mohamed Aboutrika, the government appealed against the verdict on Sunday, according to state-run newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm.
The government’s appeal highlighted the necessity of cancelling the aforementioned verdict, and requested the upholding of a governmental committee’s decision to freeze the famous footballer’s assets.
Earlier in February, Aboutrika was referred to prosecution on charges of funding the Muslim Brotherhood by a governmental committee tasked with the investigation of assets belonging to the Brotherhood’s members.
Recently in June, the Administrative Judicial Court accepted a lawsuit filed by Aboutrika, through which he appealed against the freeze imposed on his assets. The freeze was suspended afterwards.
On 8 May 2015, Aboutrika’s assets were frozen after a government committee announced the confiscation of properties belonging to tourism company Asshab Tours, in which the former Al-Ahly and national team player has shares. The committee announced afterwards that all of the player’s bank accounts have also been frozen.
In a statement, the committee said the manager of the tourism company was a Brotherhood member who was detained pending trial. He was accused of committing “hostile acts” against the state.
The aforementioned manager used company funds to finance terrorist attacks, according to the committee. It further mentioned that the decision to seize the company is in compliance with a court decree demanding the confiscation of the company’s properties and the assets of its owners.
The player, who is known for his religious conservatism and has been regularly accused of being affiliated with the Brotherhood, had appealed the decision twice, but both appeals were rejected. Aboutrika supported the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi during the 2012 presidential election, but has remained tight-lipped about his political allegiance since Morsi’s ouster in 2013.
The government committee authorised to monitor the assets of Brotherhood members was formed in October 2013 by the Ministry of Justice, and froze the assets of hundreds of the group’s members, non-governmental organisations, and companies affiliated with the group.
The Muslim Brotherhood was labelled as a terrorist organisation in 2013, following a court decision that banned the group, thus making it accountable under Article 86 of the Egyptian penal code.
