Egypt strips Muslim Brotherhood of NGO status

Egypt strips Muslim Brotherhood of NGO status

CAIRO - Egypt's cabinet on Tuesday ordered authorities to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the list of approved non-governmental organisations following a judicial order, state media reported.

The move comes after an Egyptian court last month banned the Muslim Brotherhood from operating and ordered its assets seized, amid a massive crackdown on the group following the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

In its September 23 ruling, the court had also banned "any institution branching out from or belonging to the Brotherhood".

Morsi was Egypt's first democratically elected president but his turbulent one year rule came to an abrupt end when the military heeded the call of millions of Egyptians to oust him on July 3.

His supporters have since taken to the streets to denounce what they say is a violation of democratic principles.

But the army-installed authorities have pressed ahead with a massive campaign which has seen at least 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed and around 2,000 jailed, including the top leadership.

Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, has been detained at an unknown location since his ouster.

Egypt has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, but violence has sharply increased since Morsi was deposed.

On Sunday, at least 57 people were killed in clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters and nearly 400 were injured.

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