Food Bank delisted from suspended NGOs

As the Muslim Brotherhood railed against the state’s move to clamp down on charitable NGOs allegedly run by the group, the Egyptian Food Bank praised the interim government for removing it from scrutiny.

According to the Food Bank, interim President Adly Mansour called its CEO Thursday to confirm it would be removed from a list of more than 1,000 organizations whose funds the government has frozen.

On Wednesday evening the interim government classified the Brotherhood as a “terrorist organization,” tightening control on its assets and moving to close its offices and associations across the country.

As part of this effort, the Social Solidarity Ministry released a list of about 1,055 NGOs that allegedly belong to the banned organization, including prominent Salafi organizations Al-Jame’yya al-Sha’eyya, Ansar al-Sunnah al-Muhamadeya and Al-Shubban al-Muslimeen (Islamic Youth), among others.

Social Solidarity Minister Ahmed al-Borai said the ministry plans to appoint a guardian to monitor the NGOs and ensure that services to the poor are not affected. He added that their assets are not being seized, but will remain frozen until investigations into their funding sources are complete.

Food Bank CEO Niyazy Sallam, in an official statement Thursday, expressed his gratitude to Mansour and said that during the phone call the interim president praised the role of the organization in supporting the poor and serving society.

Sallam also thanked “all involved state institutions that helped us to reveal the truth.”

The Muslim Brotherhood slammed the crackdown in an official statement released Thursday, deeming it a “continuation of the policies of impoverishment and humiliation.”

Referring to an earlier court decision to suspend Brotherhood activities and assets, the statement said the government has no grounds to issue such a decision based on a preliminary ruling that is being appealed in administrative court.

“The danger of such a decision is that it affects millions of families and individuals that wholly depend on these NGOs. They [the government] do this because they hate the Muslim Brotherhood and wish to end our popularity. By doing this, they attack Islam itself,” the statement published on the group’s website read.

The statement also claimed that blocking these organizations could open the door for Christian charities to fill the void and convert Muslims.

“Does the Cabinet aim to freeze the assets of Muslims to cover up part of its failures? Or does it want rich Muslims not to contribute to charity so that the West and those who hate Muslims and Islam would be satisfied?” the statement added.

According to a list released by the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, 130 of the suspended NGOs are located in Sharqiya Governorate, from which deposed President Mohamed Morsi hails. Daqahlia has the second highest tally, with 128, while 35 organizations on the list are based in Alexandria and 28 in Cairo.

Borai dismissed on Thursday reports that Al-Jame’yya al-Sha’eyya would also be removed from the list, saying all of the group's funds would be frozen, the state-owned Middle East News Agency reported.

Contradicting that statement, Assistant to the Minister of Justice Ezzat Khamis said during a press conference the same day that 138 of the NGO’s 1,100 branches are controlled by the Brotherhood and would be suspended. 

Khamis heads a committee tasked with implementing the court ruling to halt Brotherhood activities. He alleges the committee found that the administrations of the suspended NGOs were wholly controlled by the Brotherhood and used to finance illegal activities. According to Khamis, the government has confiscated or frozen assets including real estate, bank accounts, transfers, stocks, bonds and land deeds of 132 members of the Brotherhood.