Kolkata: Former Egyptian football star, Mohamed Aboutrika, has been added to the country’s terror list by an Egyptian court, a decision which, according to his lawyer, has been made in the wake of his alleged association with the banned organisation, Muslim Brotherhood. According to the Egyptian law regarding the terror list, anyone placed on it is subject to a travel ban, with their passport and assets liable to be frozen.
The Government of Egypt had banned the Muslim Brotherhood, placing it under the category of a terrorist organisation during the end of 2013. Aboutrika is accused of providing financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood; the government having frozen his assets in 2015, two years after his retirement from association football.
A legend in his own right, Aboutrika’s brace in the FIFA Club World Cup in 2006, and his consistency throughout the year got him a nomination for the CAF African Footballer of the Year award. He failed to win the award, but ended up second and was given the Best inter-club player and the Best player in the CAF Champions League. One of the most successful and prominent African association footballers of his generation, the former Al-Ahly player born in Giza in Egypt, openly supported the presidential bid of Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member, who later went on to become Egypt’s first democratically elected president.
However, Morsi was usurped from power, just a year after his election, by the army, followed by a crackdown on the Brotherhood, a move which has left hundreds of people dead and thousands incarcerated.
Mohamed Osman, Aboutrika’s lawyer, stated that the decision was “contrary to the law,” further elaborating that Aboutrika, who has represented his country in more than 100 matches, “has not been convicted or formally notified of any of the charges against him.” “We will appeal this decision. If he is added to the list there will be many legal consequences, notably the travel ban,” Osman said. He further said that the freeze on Aboutrika’s assets was still in force despite two court orders that it be lifted.
Aboutrika, during an interview in 2015, with the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, denied that his company – or any of his partners – had ever funded the Islamist movement. Aboutrika retired in 2013, after Al-Ahly’s loss in the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup and has avoided expressing his political views publicly.
(With inputs from PTI)