CAIRO, Feb 7 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s public prosecutor Nabil Sadek decided on Tuesday to summon everyone named on the “terrorist list” for investigation regarding their alleged involvement in funding the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The Cairo Criminal Court decided in January to place 1,538 people on a so-called “terrorists list” upon a request from prosecutors claiming that the former provided financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Penalties include freezing assets, travel ban, and loss of political rights. 

The terrorist lists include public figures of various backgrounds and specialties. Popular footballer Mohamed Abu Treika is included on the list as well as businessman Safwan Thabet, ex-parliamentarian Azza al-Garf, and Mostafa Sakr, a newspaper publisher.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Jan. 24 that the designation of citizens as “terrorists” via such lists “reflects the authorities’ indiscriminate use of broad counterterrorism laws.”

HRW also stated that such decisions impose penalties on people “without giving them a chance to defend themselves..[which] seriously violates their rights to due process.”

The terrorist lists are based on a 2015 law that organises terrorist entities and terrorists and issued by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the absence of parliament. The law authorises the public prosecutor to request designated Cairo criminal courts to name individuals or groups to the list for three-year renewable periods. The court has seven days to consider the request before deciding.