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Cairo seizes assets of preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi speaks to a crowd as he leads Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on February 18, 2011.
(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)


Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi speaks to a crowd as he leads Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on February 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi speaks to a crowd as he leads Friday prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on February 18, 2011.
(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt has seized the assets of controversial preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, seen as the “spiritual guide” of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization, according to a judicial source.

Qatar-based Qaradawi is currently wanted in Egypt, after being charged by state prosecutors of inciting violence in his televised sermons.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move was part of a mass seizure of assets of 112 members of the Anti-Coup Alliance group, which was formed to protest the Egyptian military’s ousting of Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.

“These people are implicated in several cases related to funding terror plots and inciting acts of violence,” the source added.

Dozens of attacks, including bombings and shootings, have targeted Egypt’s army, police and security personnel since Mursi’s ouster, acts the Egyptian authorities claim are being funded and organized by members of the now-banned Brotherhood. The group denies the accusations.

The assets seized by the state include all the personal property, real estate, funds and deposits in Egypt belonging to the 112 individuals, the source said.

Among the 112 were Mursi’s son, one of his former presidential advisers, and two former members of his cabinet—Mohamed Abdel Meguid, who held the office of minister of state for judicial affairs, and Tala’at Affifi, who was minister of religious endowments.

Also among them were members of other Islamist organizations in Egypt, including Tareq Al-Zumar, the head of the political wing of the Islamist group, Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiyya, and brother of Abboud Al-Zumar, who was imprisoned for being implicated in the assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

In November, the Egyptian government officially outlawed the Anti-Coup Alliance and ordered the seizing of assets of 48 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including its supreme guide Mohammed Badie and the organization’s mufti, Abdul Rahman Al-Barr.

Minister of Justice Mahmoud Saber previously said the outlawing of the Anti-Coup Alliance would entail seizing the assets of its members, including persons not directly affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood.