Egypt puts financial squeeze on opposition Islamists

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2007

CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt has tightened the noose on the opposition Muslim Brothers by freezing the assets of the Islamist movement's financiers it accuses of seeking to revive the group's secret apparatus.

Brotherhood leaders denied the allegations and denounced a political campaign they charged was aimed at breaking the back of their movement and risked harming the country's economy.

Egypt's public prosecutor on Sunday ordered a freeze on the assets of 29 businessmen considered close to the movement and their immediate families.

The decision marked the first time such measures -- typically reserved for cases of fraud and embezzlement -- were taken against the country's largest opposition bloc.

Those affected include the Muslim Brotherhood's third ranking...