Alwaght- Egypt's top prosecutor has named several members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement as terrorists under a controversial anti-terrorism law adopted last month.
In a statement released on Sunday, Chief Prosecutor Hisham Barakat said the decision follows an earlier court ruling that convicted the 18 Brotherhood figures of orchestrating violence back in 2013.
Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, his deputy Khairat el-Shater and Saad el-Katatni, the head of the Brotherhood political party, were among those blacklisted.
The figures were already found guilty over the deadly clashes that happened days after Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was toppled in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the North African country’s current president and the then army commander, on July 3, 2013.
The move is the first implementation of the anti-terror law, which allows prosecutors to freeze the assets of those designated as terrorists and bar them from public life or travel for renewable three-year periods.
The legislation seems to target Morsi's supporters, who stage frequent demonstrations on university campuses and block off roads.
In November 2013, the Egyptian government also enlisted the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
The military-backed government of Sisi has been engaged in a heavy-handed crackdown on the supporters of Morsi.
The Egyptian government's suppression of Morsi's supporters has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people and the arrest of 22,000 others, including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.
