Cassation upholds decision to permanently list Aboul Fotouh as a terrorist

Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Tuesday upheld a Public Prosecution decision to place Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, head of the Strong Egypt Party, on the country’s terrorist lists, rejecting an appeal filed by his defense team to overturn the decision.

Aboul Fotouh’s lawyer, Ahmed Aboul Ela Mady, said after the ruling that the defense had argued the prosecution’s decision was invalid because it was issued by an authority without jurisdiction. Under the law, he said, the Public Prosecution has the power only to “request listing,” while the authority to decide and issue the listing rests with a criminal court’s appellate chambers.

Mady also told Al Manassa that the “permanent” listing violated Law No. 8 of 2015 regulating terrorist entities and terrorist lists, which expressly provides that a listing may not exceed five years. He stressed that “there is no such thing in the law as a permanent listing.”

He added that, aside from substantive violations, the prosecution’s procedures also infringed on the right to defense and lacked adequate reasoning. The decision was not properly justified and relied only on the phrase “having reviewed the law and a previous judicial ruling against Aboul Fotouh,” without allowing the defense to appear, present arguments, or respond to the legal grounds for the decision.

In March, the Official Gazette published a Public Prosecution decision to place Aboul Fotouh, Muslim Brotherhood deputy supreme guide Mahmoud Ezzat and student leader Moaaz Elsharqawy on the terrorism lists “permanently,” based on their final convictions.

The law regulating terrorist entities and terrorist lists and its amendments sets out procedures for listing people as terrorists. The process begins with the Public Prosecution submitting a request to one of the criminal chambers of the Cairo Court of Appeal, which must issue a reasoned decision within seven days of the request.

The law limits listings to five years, renewable upon a request from the Public Prosecution. If no final criminal conviction establishing a terrorist designation has been issued, the prosecution must request that the case be reconsidered before the listing expires.

The law requires listing or renewal decisions to be published in Al-Waqa’i Al-Misriya, triggering measures including travel bans or arrival watchlists, passport withdrawal, and the freezing of funds and property. It also gives interested parties and the Public Prosecution the right to appeal a listing decision before the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation within 60 days of publication.