A general view shows members of the Egyptian parliament attending the opening session at the main headquarters of Parliament in Cairo, Egypt, January 10, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

Cairo - Waleed Abdulrahman

The Egyptian parliament’s legislative committee has approved in principle a draft law to abolish the funding of Muslim Brotherhood and terrorists including the procedures that would be implemented for the custody, administration and disposal of the money.

Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marwan demanded that the name of the bill be changed from funds of Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group to terrorism entities and terrorists to avoid constitutional conflict.

The Egyptian government declared Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group end of December in 2013, and Cairo Court issued a verdict in the same year banning any activities by Muslim Brotherhood or any subsidiary organization.

Further, a committee was formed to calculate the funds and prevent their use to support terrorist groups. This is the same committee that laid hands on dozens of firms, schools, hospitals, association, channels and websites, in which some are owned by leaders from the group.

The new bill, approved by the parliament, organizes legal procedures to confiscate funds of the terrorist groups. It also stipulates establishing an independent committee of judiciary nature to take procedures related to executing verdicts.

Head of parliament's legislative committee Bahaa Abu Shoka said that the new bill seeks drying the sources of terrorism, adding that the bill aims to achieve security and safety for Egyptians, after eradicating terrorist groups funding sources.

MP Sami Ramadan said that article 237 from the constitution obliges the country to fight and defy terrorism, stressing that one of the major ways to do that is through financial siege and drying funding sources.

North Sinai Governorate has turned into a center for terrorism since the isolation of former president Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to Muslim Brotherhood. Extremist groups are present there, including Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis that pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014.