Mehleb urges committee to protect workers when seizing MB companies

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb instructed a committee responsible for identifying and freezing Muslim Brotherhood funds to avoid harming employees of organizations affiliated with the banned organization, and to focus instead on making sure that funds are not used to “support terrorism.”

According to a Cabinet-issued statement, in addition to arresting and freezing the assets of 737 people determined to be Muslim Brotherhood leaders, courts have ruled that funds should be frozen for 81 schools and 102 private associations affiliated with the group.

In September 2013, courts ordered the confiscation of all Brotherhood assets, and the group was designated a banned terrorist organization in December 2013.

Previous announcements from the government have suggested that between 87 and 147 schools belonging to the Brotherhood would be put under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, which would nominate new school principals and replace school boards with teacher’s and parent association members.

In May 2014, the committee seized the assets of 12 NGOs and six media and contracting companies purportedly owned by Brotherhood members.

In June, the government announced that the committee, led by Justice Minister Nayer Abdel Moneim, would have the power to take control of and manage Brotherhood organizations. 

The suspension of Brotherhood-affiliated businesses came into the spotlight on June 15, when security forces closed down branches of the Seoudi and Zad supermarket chains. Zad is owned by prominent Muslim Brotherhood businessman Khairat al-Shater, while Seoudi is owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Abdel Rahman al-Seoudi, who denies belonging to the Brotherhood. He was tried, and eventually acquitted in 2008, of money laundering and financing the Brotherhood.

According to the Cabinet statement, all Seoudi supermarket branches have now been reopened under the management of the state-owned Egyptian Company for Wholesale Trade. Sixty percent of Zad’s branches have also been reopened, and the committee plans to re-open the remaining stores “in order to preserve the rights of workers.”