Egyptian court to consider ruling Hamas a terrorist organization

Lawsuit, submitted by Egyptian lawyer, is due to be heard in the Alexandria Court of Urgent Matters on March 23.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
Updated: MARCH 9, 2016 09:07
Palestinian militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas' armed wing, take part in a rally in Gaza City (photo credit: MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Palestinian militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas' armed wing, take part in a rally in Gaza City
(photo credit: MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
An Egyptian lawyer has filed a lawsuit seeking to label Hamas a terrorist organization, following the recent declaration by the Egyptian interior minister on the movement's involvement in the assassination of Egypt’s public prosecutor.
The lawsuit, submitted by Tarek Mahmoud, will be heard in the Alexandria Court of Urgent Matters on March 23. Mahmoud told al-Arabia news site Tuesday: "The remarks by the Egyptian interior minister during the press conference he held prove that Hamas is a terror organization which trained the terrorists who carried out the terror attack against the Egyptian public prosecutor.
Egyptian Public Prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was killed by a car bomb in Cairo in June 2015. He was the most senior state official assassinated since the toppling in mid-2013 of elected president Mohammad Morsi.
"According to Hamas's charter, the movement regards itself as the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which indicates that Hamas has carried out this terror attack and attacks that hit Egypt recently on the behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood," Mahmoud stated.
Similar lawsuits against Hamas have been filed in Egypt in the past but were challenged by the Egyptian government. In March 2015, the Egyptian government canceled a court ruling in favor of deeming the movement a terrorist organization due to "potential damage to Egypt's foreign policy."
The Egyptian lawyer's remarks stand in contrast to what Khalil al-Haya, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said in a press conference on Tuesday. According to al-Haya, Hamas has no organizational or administrative relations with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The lawyer, Tarek Mahmoud, added that in the lawsuit he filled he demanded to designate Hamas as a terror organization and label all activists affiliated with the movement as terrorists.