Police close 2 main supermarket chains for MB affiliation

Special forces closed down nationwide branches of Zad and Seoudi supermarkets owned by Muslim Brotherhood affiliated figures on Sunday.

According to an eyewitness, special forces emptied a Seoudi branch in Messaha Square, Dokki, and closed it down, posting masked guards at the door. Seoudi offices close by were also raided and closed according to the witness. Tens of workers remained on the sidewalk following the abrupt closure.

State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the judicial committee tasked with identifying Muslim Brotherhood assets, headed by Justice Minister Nayer Othman, issued the decision to close Zad stores, owned by Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat al-Shater and Seoudi market, owned by businessman Abdel Rahman al-Seoudi.

In September, a court banned the Muslim Brotherhood group and ordered the confiscation of its assets. In May, a judicial committee confiscated the assets of 30 group members, in addition to six media and contracting companies and 12 NGOs owned by Brotherhood members.

Shater is currently in detention facing numerous charges, including terrorism, in several cases. His daughter Aisha commented on the closure of Zad on her Facebook page, saying that the move has deprived workers of their jobs in the midst of an unemployment problem.

Aisha reported that offices and stores owned by her father were raided since the early morning on Sunday with large numbers of police.

She said Mubarak had used the same tactic against her family, confiscating another chain owned by Shater, Salsabeel and Aboul Feda restaurant.

Despite lack of direct affiliation with the Brotherhood, Seoudi’s assets in Egypt have come under attack before, amid allegations that the businessman has financed the Islamist group. In an interview on the Brotherhood’s official website in 2007, Seoudi’s son Mosaab said that his father had investments worth 300 million in Egypt and had no affiliation to the Brotherhood.

In 2007, Several of Seoudi’s companies were raided and confiscated and he was detained on charges of money laundering and financing the Brotherhood. He was referred to a military court, along with several Brotherhood leaders, but was eventually acquitted in 2008.