Egypt adds 215 regime opponents to list of ‘terrorists’

By Mohamed al-Rayyes

CAIRO (AA) - An Egyptian court on Monday added the names of 215 regime opponents to its official list of “terrorists”.

According to reports in the state press, the additions included Mohamed Wahdan, a senior leader of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

The additions were made within the context of an ongoing criminal trial known in the local media as the “Helwan Brigades” case.

The case dates back to the aftermath of Egypt’s 2013 military coup, when several supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo’s Helwan district were charged with “membership in a banned group”, “violating constitutional provisions”, “harming national cohesion” and “disturbing public order”.

In April, the Court of Cassation (Egypt’s highest appellate court) overturned an earlier decision to add the same defendants’ names to the terrorist list.

Monday’s court decision to add their names to the list can be challenged -- for a second time -- before the Court of Cassation, as long as the appeal is filed within 60 days of being published in Egypt’s official gazette.

Late last month, Egypt added the names of 296 other regime opponents, including Brotherhood acting chief Mahmoud Ezzat, to the same list.

In mid-2013, the Egyptian military ousted and imprisoned Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader.

Shortly afterward, Egypt’s post-coup authorities officially designated the Brotherhood -- the country’s largest and best organized opposition movement -- as a “terrorist group”.