Cairo: An Egyptian court has quashed a travel ban slapped on Mohammad Badei, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s outlawed most powerful opposition force, judicial sources said on Wednesday.
In explaining its ruling, the administrative court said that there is no legal reason to deprive Badei, 67, of his “constitutional right to move inside and outside the country”, they added.
“He is not wanted for questioning in any lawsuit. Therefore, there is no legal reason to stop him from traveling,” added the court, which ordered the Egyptian authorities to drop this ban.
In 2008, the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior barred Badei and his family from traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform the Umrah (the lesser Muslim pilgrimage). He went to court to appeal the ban.
“I hope the government will comply with this ruling to show respect to the independence of the judiciary,” Jamal Taj Al Deen, a lawyer for Badei, said.
Last January, Badei, a conservative veterinary professor, became the eight supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been officially banned in Egypt since 1954.
