The military-backed interim government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. The decision was announced in a Cabinet statement after a long meeting on Wednesday.
"We declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, criminalizing the group as a terrorist one. This is in accordance with the criminal law number 86 and all the consequences which criminalize all its activities, its financing and even group membership or to advertise for the group, whether in writing or in any other way." said Hossam Eissa, Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education.
Eissa said that the decision was in response to Tuesday’s deadly bombing targeting a police headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura. The attack killed 16 people, mostly police officers, and wounded over 140. But he offered no evidence in his speech linking the Brotherhood to the attack. The Brotherhood has denied being responsible for Tuesday’s attack. Meanwhile, Sinai-based Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has said it carried out the car bomb attack in Mansoura.
