Egypt’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, overruled on Tuesday a verdict to add 161 defendants on terror lists on charges of establishing a terrorist group affiliated with ISIS.
It instead ordered that the decision be reviewed before the Criminal Court.
Seventy-eight defendants had filed appeals against the Cairo Criminal Court's decision to blacklist them, demanding that the decision be annulled.
The Cairo Criminal Court had already approved their inclusion on the list at the instruction of the Public Prosecution and in line with the related investigations by the security agencies.
The Public Prosecution had charged the accused with joining an illegal group, aimed at obstructing the constitution and laws and preventing state institutions from carrying out their duties. The group also sought to violate citizens’ personal freedoms, harming national unity and social peace, changing the regime by force and attacking the armed forces and the police.
The Prosecution also charged the defendants with participating in an agreement to commit terrorist crimes and planning to carry out hostile acts against state institutions and public facilities.
In a separate case, the Court of Cassation set a hearing for July 10 to issue a verdict on the appeals submitted by 119 Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members against their blacklisting.
They are charged with forming an armed wing of the Brotherhood to carry out hostile and terrorist operations against the Egyptian state and its institutions.
The defendants on terror lists include a number of Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Office members, most notably Mahmoud Ezzat, Mohammed Abdulrahman al-Morsi and Mahmoud Hussein.
