As the parliamentary elections begin, at least 12 preachers in Alexandria were referred to investigations for preaching without permission and using mosques for election publicity, the Ministry of Religious Endowments said in a statement Saturday.
The preachers belong to the Salafist group in Alexandria, according to the statement. Ten of them were accused of stepping on the Minbar without permission, while another was accused of blocking the mosque’s Imam from preaching in Al-Montaza district. One citizen was accused of hanging posters for the elections campaign on a mosque wall in Alexandria.
The religious department of the ministry warned against any attempts to use mosques for any political purposes and said it will take further legal procedures with those who violate these rules. The ministry will file a report on Sunday to the Supreme Electoral Committee with the recent violations.
Following the ousting and banning of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2013, the ministry has taken further measures to tighten religious speech in Egypt.
The ministry suspended an imam on Wednesday who preached “radical ideologies” in a mosque that belongs to the ministry’s administration in Nabaroh city, Daqahleya governorate.
Dozens of others were also banned from preaching over the past year for similar violations, according to the ministry’s figures.
