Prosecution renews detention of Al-Amal Cell's defendants

CAIRO – 10 July 2019: The State Security Prosecution ordered on Tuesday detaining 11 defendants in the case known as Al-Amal (Hope) Cell for additional 15 days.

The defendants, including economic figures, are accused of forming a terrorist cell dubbed Al-Amal to target the state institutions in the anniversary of the June 30 revolution this year.

The defendants in custody in the case include Ziad Al-Elemy, Hossam Mo'nis, Osama Al-Aqbawi, Hesham Fouad, Ahmed Tammam, Mostafa Abdel Moez, Omar Al-Shenety, Khaled Abu Shadi, Hassan Barbari, Ahmed Al-Ghannam, and Qasem Abdel Kafi.

Al-Amal Cell is believed to be formed by the Muslim Brotherhood group designated by the Egyptian state as terrorist since 2013, following violent clashes between their supporters and the police forces earlier in the same year.

In July, legal sources revealed that the number of defendants in the case increased to 18 people, including five runaways. This comes after Taqwa Abdel Rady and Lo’ya Sabry, two female defendants, were detained for 15 days pending investigation, over probable links to the cell.

The defendants are accused of joining and funding a terrorist group that was unlawfully established, and also using social media platforms to disseminate fake news.

The State Security Prosecution ordered seizing the funds of a number of defendants including politicians and economy figures in the case. It also ordered banning the defendants from travelling outside the country.

The runaways are Ayman Nour, owner and manager of pro-Muslim Brotherhood Al-Sharq TV; pro-Muslim Brotherhood TV presenters Mo'taz Matar and Mohamed Nasser; and Muslim-Brotherhood-affiliated figures Mahmoud Hussein and Ali Bateekh.

Security authorities also ordered moving the defendants to Cairo's Tura Prison, after the prosecution had ordered detaining the defendants for 15 days pending investigations.

Al-Amal Cell

Hope Cell (Plan), according to a security statement, is a terrorist plot by Muslim Brotherhood leaders to target the state facilities institutions. The arrested figures are believed to be Muslim Brotherhood operatives.

According to a statement by the Interior Ministry, the scheme worked on uniting the Brotherhood group members, funding them from the revenues of some economic entities as they sought to topple the state and its institutions on the June 30 Uprising anniversary.

Information received by the National Security Service revealed that the plan is focused on establishing routes for the financial funds sent illegally from abroad by some hostile countries to work on carrying out violent acts across the country to disrupt celebrations of the revolution's anniversary, the statement said.

The statement also noted that the scheme aimed at launching "inciting" campaigns in the media and on the social media and satellite TV channels that are broadcast from outside the country.

Acting on such information, security forces, in coordination with the High State Security Prosecution, targeted 19 economic entities which are secretly run by the MB leaders and seized documents, amounts of money and electronic devices that were in their possession, the statement added.