CAIRO: Minister of Religious Endowment Mohamed Mukhtar Gomaa called Saturday for designating Al-Azhar Scholars Front as “terrorist entity” after its alleged call to stage protests on August 14 marking the 2nd anniversary of the pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins dispersal.
The dissolved group which belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), exploits the name of Al-Azhar and “abuses the religion and the country, so it should be put on the list of terrorist entities,” Gomaa said in a statement.
Last week, the MB Freedom and Justice Party reported the front called for protests to mark the second anniversary of the dispersal; however, the front published a statement denying “what has been published in other websites.”
Two days ago, the ministry banned six clergymen in Delta’s Fayoum from leading the prayers and delivering sermons in all mosques all over the governorate over belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
Egypt designed the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in December 2013 following a bomb attack on the Dakahlia Security Directorate building in which 15 people killed and dozens were injured.
On Feb. 25, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has expanded the state’s power against “terrorism” by allowing the Attorney General to ask a court to label defendants accused of terrorism-related charges as “terrorists” pending final verdict.
On August 14, 2013, Egyptian Security forces forcedly dispersed pro-MB sit-ins at Rabaa al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares that called for reinstatement of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
More than 600 people were killed in the dispersal as it was stated by state-owned National Council of Human Rights, while international human organizations said that the number of killed people exceeded 1,000.