EGYPTIAN LAWYER TO DEMAND THE BANNING OF ISRAELI ACTIVITIES IN EGYPT

Cairo, 5 Jumadil Awwal 1435/6 March 2014 (MINA) – An Egyptian legal expert, Hamid Seddik said in a press statement that he would file a lawsuit at the Court of Urgent Matters, which banned Hamas this week, demanding the banning of all Israeli activities in Egypt and closing down its embassy.

On Tuesday, the same court issued a verdict banning all Hamas activities in Egypt, and closing down its headquarters.

“If the Court of Urgent Matters declines the lawsuit, I will submit it to the Administrative Court,” Seddik said, Middle East Monitor reported as cited by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

He pointed out that he will cite Israel’s “espionage” activities against Egypt, including the latest case involving Israeli spies.

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The Egyptian Higher State Security Prosecution announced on February 2 the referral of an “Israeli espionage network” to court. The network, according to the prosecution’s statement, is made up of 3 Egyptians, two Israelis, and four officers affiliated with the Israeli Military Intelligence apparatus. All Israeli defendants are at large.

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.

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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.’

“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.

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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.

(T/P03/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)