Egypt prosecutor lists Brotherhood chief as "terrorist"

Egypt's prosecutor general issued a decision on Sunday to list 18 leading members of the currently-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group, including its chief, as terrorists, official MENA news agency reported.

The list determined by Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat includes the top group leader Mohamed Badie, his deputy and business tycoon Kahirat al-Shater, former Parliament Speaker Mohamed Saad al-Katatni, former Youth and Sports Minister Osama Yassin and other Brotherhood leading members.

Following the ouster of former Brotherhood-oriented President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule, and the security crackdown on his loyalists that left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

As extremist self-proclaimed Islamists launched anti-government terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of police and army men since Morsi's removal, the Egyptian new leadership designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group and arrested most of its members who could not flee the country, including Morsi himself.

The prosecutor's decision is based on the Terrorist Entity Law, signed off earlier this year by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

According to the law, the general prosecution could ask a criminal court to list suspects as terrorists and start their trial and the law also stipulates that any group designated as terrorist will be dissolved and its assets frozen. Endit