Court reverses decision to freeze football star Abu Treika’s assets

A previous determination to confiscate football star Mohamed Abu Treika’s assets was reversed in court on Tuesday, according to his lawyer Mohamed Osman.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) confiscated Abu Treika’s assets in May 2015, after he was accused of owning a company affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization, an accusation he has repeatedly denied.

The company in question is in tourism, and was co-founded by Abu Treika and Anas Mohamed al-Qady, who was accused of being a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood by a government appointed judicial committee tasked with examining Muslim Brotherhood assets in the aftermath of former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in 2013.

Abu Treika’s previous appeals against the confiscation of his assets were both rejected.

Tuesday’s session by an administrative State Council court was headed by Judge Yahya Dakroury, the same court that invalidated the border deal with Saudi Arabia over Tiran and Sanafir islands.

Abu Treika, who stopped playing professional football in 2013, remains one of Egypt’s most celebrated sports icons. He has been known for taking public political stances, including wearing a t-shirt with the slogan, “Sympathy with Gaza,” expressing solidarity with Palestinians during the Egyptian-Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip during the Africa Cup of Nations in 2008.

Abu Treika supported Morsi’s 2012 presidential campaign, and publicly sided with Ultras Ahlawy hardcore football fans after the death of 74 Ahly fans at Port Said stadium in February 2012. Ahly supporters claim they were deliberately targeted by rival fans and that security forces closed the gates in retribution for the role of football ultras in the January 25, 2011 revolution.

The star’s reputation for political activism led to speculation on social media that his company was targeted as an act of political retribution.