Decade-long asset freezes lifted for Sowerky, Seoudi family members after court says reason ‘disappeared’

A court decided on Tuesday to lift asset freezes targeting business people associated with chain department store Al-Tawheed wal Nour and the Seoudi Supermarket franchise, according to lawyer Khaled Ali.

The step marks a gradual easing of restrictions which were put in place by authorities over the last decade to constrain the financial and personal freedoms of high profile public figures and businessmen suspected of association with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Cairo Court of Urgent Matters ruled on Tuesday to lift the asset freeze against the 14 members of the Sowerky and Seoudi families, on the grounds that the reasons for the asset freeze were no longer present, according to court documents circulated by media outlets. 

No further clarification was given on the initial reasons for the asset freezes, nor their “disappearance,” as the court documents termed it in their decision. 

A variety of assets belonging to Al-Tawheed wal Nour owner Sayed al-Sowerky, several of his sons, and several members of the Seoudi family were frozen in 2013 at the request of a state committee tasked with seizing and managing the assets of groups and individuals classified as terrorists.

Assets of the 14 individuals were initially frozen during investigations into individuals and associations accused of belonging to or funding the Muslim Brotherhood or organizations related to it, the legal documents noted.  

The court reconsidered the asset freeze on the basis of a request submitted by the committee responsible for managing terrorist assets, according to the documents.

The Muslim Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organization by the government in 2013 amid a security and judicial crackdown which saw tens of thousands of people arrested and forced into exile. 

Asset freezes were also implemented in the years following the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi by order of the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters, which issued similar decisions targeting hundreds of people suspected of affiliation or support of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

More recently, however, a judicial source close to the committee responsible for handling the assets told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that there were “security” recommendations for a resolution to the question of properties belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Asset freezes were duly lifted from around 146 individuals suspected of association with the group.