Egyptian court brands Hamas terrorist organization, bans activities

Egyptian court brands Hamas terrorist organization, bans activities

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Egyptian court ruled on Tuesday, March 4, to ban activities of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the country, branding it a terrorist organization in a move likely to fuel tension between Cairo's military-backed government and the Islamic group, the Associated Press reports.

The Cairo court also ordered the closure of Hamas offices and the suspension of all dealings with the group.

Egypt's relations with Hamas have sharply deteriorated since the military overthrew the Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, last July. Egypt's interim leaders maintain that Hamas is playing a key role in the insurgency by militants in the northern region of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, addressing a previously scheduled news conference, said he was not aware of the ruling, but added: "Whoever threatens Egypt's security should understand that there will be consequences."

Authorities have also destroyed many of the tunnels running under the Egypt-Gaza border and which are used by Palestinians in Gaza to smuggle a wide range of goods from Egypt, including subsidized items like gasoline and medicine.

Hamas is the Palestinian chapter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and the two forged close ties during his year in office, with leaders of the Palestinian groups spending most of their time in Cairo.

In Gaza, senior Hamas official Izzat Rishq condemned the ruling, saying the movement viewed it as a "political decision" directed against the Palestinian people and their resistance. His comments came in a statement sent by email.

Morsi and scores of Brotherhood leaders are in detention, facing a multitude of trials on a wide range of charges including several that carry the death penalty.

Two of those cases involve Hamas members, accused of assisting Morsi and others in escaping from prison in 2011. Morsi and others are also charged in a separate trial of leaking state secrets to Hamas.

Tuesday's ruling by the Court of Urgent Matters was the result of a case brought before the court by an Egyptian lawyer seeking a verdict branding Hamas a terrorist organization and suspending any dealings with it.

The ruling said Hamas was founded in 1988 as an Islamic resistance movement but later abandoned that course and became a terrorist organization.

Samir Sabry, the lawyer who filed the case, said the ruling meant that any Hamas member currently in Egypt has now lost any legal cover for his stay and should be arrested.

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