Egypt's Cassation Court has cancelled a March decision by late prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat to put Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 17 others on a "terrorism list."
The court announced its decision in September but the details were only published by privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper on Monday.
In reaction to the cassation court's cancelation, the prosecutor-general’s office issued a statement saying, "No objection can be made to court decisions."
The cassation court issued a decision in September to reject an appeal by Muslim Brotherhood leaders to be removed from the "terrorism list" after they were listed on it by a prosecution decision.
At the time, local media interpreted the rejection as meaning that the 18 MB leaders would stay on the list.
However, the newly published detailed report shows that the cassation court did not take into consideration the prosecutions decision because it was not the entity with the authority to issue the list. Hence, the prosecutions decision "had no impact."
The cassation court explained that the criminal court, and not the prosecution, was the entity responsible for listing individuals or organisations on the terrorism list, according to the report.
The prosecution only had the right to "prepare" the two lists of terrorist individuals and organisations or to "request the listing" of individuals who have been sentenced for terrorism-related criminal charges.
It was then a "legal fault" of the prosecution to put Mohamed Badie, Khairat El-Shater, Mohamed El-Beltagy and Essam El-Erian, along with 14 others on the "terrorism list." And an appeal would be legal if it was on a court decision and not a prosecution decision.
"If the general-prosecutor's decision, against which the appeal was filed, was issued for a non-concerned entity, then it becomes invalid, and an appeal against it becomes impermissible," the cassation court said in its report.
The prosecution issued the decision based on the terrorist entities law that requires authorities to identify and list individuals and organisations. The decision was based on a February verdict that holds the 18 MB leaders accountable for 2013 violence on June 30 and July 1 in front of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters.
