319 defendants enlisted on terror list

CAIRO – 17 December 2018: Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld a court ruling enlisting the defendants of the Sinai insurgency case on the list of terrorist entities.

The court rejected the defendants' appeal and upheld the ruling enlisting 319 defendants on the terror list. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal set December 27 to review the defendants' appeal.

Previously, a total of 164 people, including high-profile Islamists Tarik al-Zomor, Assem Abdel Maged and Mohamed Shawki al-Islambolli, were added to Egypt’s terrorist list by Cairo Criminal Court, according to the Official Gazette.

They were mainly charged with attempting to revive the Islamic Group, a dangerous terrorist organization that was most active from the 1970s until the 1990s.

Also, they are also charged with arming young men in Upper Egypt, once the stronghold of the Islamic Group, inciting violence against the state, and establishing relations with foreign elements.

On September 23, Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld a court ruling putting prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader and businessman Hassan Malek and 55 other MB members on the list of terrorist entities.

On August 30, Cairo Criminal Court put the MB members on the terrorist list over accusations of damaging the Egyptian economy by smuggling foreign currencies and financially supporting terrorist groups.

In 2015, the attorney general referred Malek and other defendants to the Emergency Court after he was arrested by security forces. Several members of Malek’s family were also added to the terror list endorsed by Cairo Criminal Court in December 2017.

Names added to the terror list are revised every five years.