CAIRO: The public prosecutor’s office has corrected the name of a prominent Saudi cleric charged along with four other members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood with money laundering and raising funds abroad.
A prosecutor’s statement Monday identified the Saudi suspect as A’wadh Al-Qarani. Last week, the prosecutor’s office incorrectly identified him as a Saudi cleric with a similar name, A’e’dh Al-Qarani, who has denied any connection with the Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group.
The statement said the wanted A’wadh Al-Qarani had taught at a Saudi university and is now a businessman.
Secretary General of the Muslim Brotherhood’s International Organization, Ibrahim Mounir, who is among the five facing charges, denounced the inaccuracy of the referral sheet issued by the prosecutor’s office.
The statement described them as “being on the run” when in fact he has been living in Britain, “in a dignified manner for 30 years,” Mounir said on the Muslim Brotherhood’s official website. The last time he visited Egypt was during the 1987 elections.
He also noted that the “complete inaccuracy of the names is ridiculous”, in reference to the mix up between Saudi preacher A’e’dh Al-Qarani and A’wadh Al-Qarani.
Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud said he was appalled by the mistakes made by the prosecutor’s office. “This is unjustified and illustrates how the emergency law is used to make unconfirmed allegations against renowned scholars and intellectuals,” he said.
Abdel Maqsoud has previously called the allegations an “unjustified move aimed at terrorizing the group and its call to end emergency law.”
“This [the latest order] illustrates how the emergency law is used against scholars and intellectuals in contrast to the government’s claim of using it only against terrorists and drug dealers,” he added.
Last Wednesday, Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred five prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood to the State Security Emergency Court for allegedly funding a banned group.
This came after the State Security Prosecution Office accused them of money laundering and funding a banned group engaged in illegal activities to overthrow the regime.
The three remaining members are Ashraf Mohamed Abdel Halim; Islamic preacher Wagdy Ghoneim and Osama Soliman. All of them currently reside outside Egypt except for Soliman, a CEO of a foreign exchange company, who is now in custody.
“The current MB accusations may suitably serve the court case of the International Organization for the Muslim Brotherhood,” Mounir said, adding that the charges are “without basis” as he has not been actively present on the political scene due to health conditions. –Additional reporting by Associated Press.
