Egypt considering disbanding Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt today said it may disband the Muslim Brotherhood if a probe finds that the previously outlawed Islamist group stored weapons in its headquarters.
The Insurance and Social Affairs Ministry said that the General Department for Associations and the Management of Legal Affairs is scheduled to hold a meeting within a maximum of 10 days in which they will consider whether the Muslim Brotherhood should be dissolved, the Egypt Independent reported quoting an official source from the ministry.
The report said that the public prosecution responded yesterday to the ministry's request to be notified of the outcome of an investigation concerning the burning of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Moqattam on June 30.

According to the report, the South Cairo Prosecution has said that the investigation into the burning of the Brotherhood headquarters is ongoing.
Deadly clashes had erupted on June 30 when thousands of supporters and opponents of now-deposed President Mohammed Morsi held rival rallies during which protesters set fire to headquarters of the Brotherhood, to which Morsi belongs.
Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, and others face charges of murder, attempted murder, and forming militias and a terrorist group.

The ministry will make a decision on whether to dismantle the Brotherhood based on the results of the investigation, the report said quoting the source.

The ministry's decision will have no political dimension, the source said, adding that if it is proved that the Brotherhood used the headquarters to store weapons, and that they formed a militia, the group will be disbanded as mandated by law.
After the suspension of the constitution, which gave the administrative court the exclusive power to dissolve any association, it is now the ministry that is responsible for determining whether or not any group has violated the law and thus must be disbanded, the source said in the report.
The Muslim Brotherhood was banned by dictator Hosni Mubarak during his three-decade long rule but was legalised following the 2011 Egyptian revolution that toppled Mubarak.