Egyptian court dissolves Muslim Brotherhood political wing

An Egyptian court on Saturday ordered the dissolution of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the already banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The decision comes after the authorities designated the Brotherhood a "terrorist organisation" in December following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military.

The FJP had come out on top in every election in Egypt between its creation in the wake of the country's Arab Spring uprising in 2011 and Morsi's removal in July 2013.

In its ruling on Saturday, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered "the dissolution of the Freedom and Justice Party because it broke the law regarding political parties."

According to media reports, the decision is final and not open to appeal.

Mohamed Soudan, the FJP's Foreign Relations Secretary, said on Saturday that the ruling is a political reaction after the party refused to give into demands from Egypt's military and intelligence services put to the group earlier this week. Those demands, he said, included ending their street demonstration and recognising President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the legitimate leader of the country.

"They want to push us to accept this, but when we refuse it, this is the answer," Soudan said.

The dissolution of the FJP, which would appear to curtail the Muslim Brotherhood's participation in elections, comes ahead of Egypt's parliamentary elections that are expected to be held by November. 

With the FJP planning to boycott the elections and essentially disempowered since the 3 July coup, Soudan said the court decision on Saturday appeared to be mostly a PR move.

The military toppled Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, after massive protests calling for his removal following a single year of turbulent rule.

Since then, a crackdown by the military-installed authorities on his supporters has killed 1,400 people in street clashes, and some 16,000 Islamists and protesters have been jailed.

At least 200 people have also been sentenced to death in speedy mass trials, including Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, although none of the sentences has been carried out so far.

Morsi himself is on trial on various charges, and the army chief who overthrew him, Sisi, replaced him after winning a presidential election in May.