MB-affiliates referred to court for overthrowing regime attempt

CAIRO - 11 June 2018: Egypt’s Attorney General, Nabil Sadek, referred 28 defendants to the High Urgent State Security Court on Sunday, over charges of unlawfully forming anti-regime group.

The prosecution said that the defendants, of whom nine are under arrest, have formed a group called “The Egyptian Council for Change” with the aim of suspending the Constitution and law, preventing the state institutions from carrying out their duties, harming the national unity and disrupting social peace.

The group provided its elements with funds and incited illegal protests, and spread false news with the aim to harm the country’s national and economic interests, according to the statement of the General Attorney.

The defendants were interrogated by the High State Security Prosecution, to find that Hossam Eddin Atef Al-Shazli, dubbed as Hossam Al-Shazli, has founded the Egyptian Council for Change to recruit citizens from inside and outside Egypt and incite them against the regime.

The group’s Facebook page has 123,109 fans. It always criticized the current political and economic atmosphere, posting anti-regime articles of the group’s founder.

Hossam Al-Shazli, based in Switzerland, is a regular guest at the banned Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated channels in Turkey, such as Al-Sharq and Mekmeleen. Al-Shazli claimed that he worked as a professor at Cambridge University, introducing himself as a political and economic advisor, and expert in “change management and business liaison”.

Al-Shazli had announced his intention to run for president in the latest presidential election in March 2018, however, he did not take any serious steps to run against President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and politician Moussa Mostafa Moussa.