The Cairo Emergency Court of Appeals refused on Wednesday the objection plea made by lawyers over the injunction to ban the Muslim Brotherhood Organisation.
The objection by the Brotherhood lawyers does not qualify as an appeal, however, since the only the parties in dispute can lodge an appeal, which in this case are the president and the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
Article 45 of the Egyptian Procedural Law allows for a procedure called interlocutory appeal which “is an objection to the execution of the judgment, or to perform the injunction,” explained Alaa Essam, one of the Tagammu party lawyers. “Any party affected by the judgment, even if they’re not part of the case, is allowed to object.”
Hany Al-Dardeery, a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer, was “skeptical” about the neutrality of the court, claiming that the court was “probably ordered to [make the ruling] by a higher authority.”
On 23 September the circuit court for urgent matters in Abdeen ruled to disband the Muslim Brotherhood Organisation and ordered the confiscation of its capital in response to a complaint filed by Mahmoud Abdullah of the Tagammu party.
Several other cases have been filed against the Muslim Brotherhood, including one by Engineer Hamdy Al-Fakharany disputing the legality of the Muslim Brotherhood Association. The association was formed in March 2013 under the auspices of Muslim Brotherhood member and former President Mohamed Morsi.
Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Mohamed Abdel Fatah Ibrahim said he “[does not understand] why Mahmoud Abdallah sued the president in a case concerning the Muslim Brotherhood, since it would’ve been more beneficial to sue the legal representative of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“This would facilitate procedures for other lawyers to file a case claiming irrelevancy of the current case, while many other procedures could be taken to annul the current ruling,” Ibrahim said.
Secretary for Political Affairs of Tagamma Party Hany Husseiny said that the “ruling by the Court of Urgent Matters to reject the writ submitted by the Muslim Brotherhood on the rule of prohibition of activities of the group, confirmed the safety of the grounds for the original ruling and that the prohibition of the activities of this group is final.”
“The government should immediately take urgent action to implement the judgment of all causes, and to demonstrate that it is serious in implementing the law and the imposition of public order without slowing down,” the statement concluded.
