CAIRO COURT IMPOSES TEMPORARY BAN ON HAMAS ACTIVITIES IN EGYPT

Cairo, 3 Jumadil Awwal 1435/4 March 2014 (MINA) – The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters on Tuesday has banned all activities in Egypt by Hamas pending a court verdict in an espionage allegation involving ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Islamist Palestinian group.

The court also banned all “organisations or groups branching from, financed or supported by Hamas,” a judicial source told Ahram Online as cited by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Hamas was prompt to criticise the ruling, saying that it ‘strongly condemned’ what it described as an ‘unjustifiable’ and ‘highly political’ decision that was based on ‘fabrications and false news.’

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“Hamas has neither activities nor official offices in Egypt, whether before, during or after the [2011 revolution],” a Hamas official said in a statement e-mailed to Ahram Online.

The official added the decision ‘targets’ the Palestinian people and is consistent with goals to fight and eliminate the Palestinian resistance against which Hamas is a bulwark.

Hamas — the Palestinian Resistance Movement — is an ideological offshoot of the now-banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It was founded in 1987 at the height of the first Palestinian intifada against Israel.

Egyptian authorities have accused several Hamas members of undermining national security by involvement in a series of jailbreaks at the beginning of the Egyptian revolution in January 2011.

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Authorities have also accused ousted president Morsi of espionage with Hamas officials.

Thirty-six Muslim Brotherhood members, including Morsi, are currently in trial for allegation of espionage. The prosecution accuses the Brotherhood members of collaborating with Gaza rulers Hamas, Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah and other organisations “inside and outside” Egypt to smuggle arms, organise military training for group members in the Gaza Strip, and funding a scheme to stir chaos and threaten national security in Egypt.

Hamas has also denied any involvement in prison breaks or illegal cooperation with the ousted Islamist leader. The group stressed out even though it has a good relationship with the Brotherhood in Egypt, but it would not interfere in the internal affairs of his counterpart.

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The group said on Tuesday it had been a subject of an “unprecedented media and political campaign of incitement and defamation” in Egypt.(T/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)