Cairo Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court Saturday dissolved the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the once-ruling Muslim Brotherhood, in the latest blow to the Islamist group.
The Cairo-based court also ordered the party’s assets be seized after charging it of involvement in unlawful acts.
In July last year, the army toppled Islamist president Mohammad Mursi, a senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, following enormous protests against his one-year rule.
In December, the government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist declaration.
Saturday’s ruling, which is irrevocable, was in response to 10 lawsuits lodged by secular politicians who accused FJP of being part of a terrorist organization, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. The court also said the commission, responsible for legalizing political parties, had also filed for FJP disbanding.
The dissolution decision comes as no surprise for FJP, which has been practically suspended since Mursi’s toppling.
“It will be wrong for anyone to think that the party will one day abandon its responsibility towards the country and people as a result of a politically motivated verdict,” the party said in an online statement. “The party confirms that political action is not related to the presence of offices or air-conditioned halls. But it is based on hard work pursuing struggle.”
Meanwhile, a defence council for FJP called the ruling “unconstitutional”.
“It is an episode in the counter-revolution series aimed at obliterating the gains of the January 25, 2011 revolution” the FPJ website quoted the council as saying referring to a popular revolt that eventually forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Since Mursi’s ouster, hundreds of the Brotherhood leaders have been detained and put on trial on charges of inciting deadly violence. The 86-year-old group has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
FJP, the Brotherhood’s first ever political party, was created few months after the anti-Mubarak uprising. Mursi was the party’s first chief before quitting to run for presidency in 2012.
The party won nearly half of parliamentary seats in Egypt’s first post-Mubarak elections.