Egypt court to consider dissolution of Muslim Brotherhood

The High Administrative Court in Cairo is set to hear a lawsuit Tuesday calling for the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The plaintiff, Shehata Mohamed Shehata, claims the country's largest Islamist group has illegally carried out both political and social activities since the 1930's despite being an officially banned political organisation.

Moreover, Shehata says the Brotherhood has failed to abide by a 2002 law governing the functions of non-governmental organisations, which forbids such groups operating as religious-based political parties.  The penalty for failing to abide by the law, claims Shehata, is dissolution of the group.

The move is a further challenge to the Brotherhood after Thursday's decision by the High Constitutional Court to dissolve the People's Assembly, which was largely dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, because the parliamentary election law which regulated the legislative poll was deemed unconstitutional.

An addendum to the constitutional declaration was also issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) limiting the authorities of the coming president, which is expected to be the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Mursi. According to unofficial election results he received  51.89 per cent of the vote. Official results are expected on Thursday.

Shehata is also calling for the closure of the group's headquarters and the freezing of its bank accounts.

Shehata Mohamed Shehata is a lawyer and head of the Egyptian Centre for Integrity and Transparency. He was involved in the case that led to the dissolution of the first consituent assembly.