Egypt freezes assets of Muslim Brotherhood charities

Egypt on Tuesday announced it was freezing assets of more than 1,000 charities said to be tied to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, as well as those of hospitals and individuals.

The funds of 1,133 charities were to be frozen, the judicial committee said in a statement, as well as numerous other entities it said were owned by the Brotherhood.

The decision came after a law was passed earlier this year to oversee the freezing of assets of "terrorists" and "terrorist groups". 

The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and designated a terrorist organisation in Egypt in December 2013, months after the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule. 

The judicial committee additionally announced the assets of 1,589 Brotherhood members would be frozen, including some of the movement's leaders.

Some 118 companies, 104 schools, 69 hospitals and 33 websites and satellite channels were also hit with an asset freeze.

Brotherhood members were among 75 people whose death sentences were upheld on Saturday over a sit-in in Cairo's Rabaa Square in August 2013, when more than 1,000 Morsi supporters were killed by Egyptian security forces.

Hundreds of other members were given lengthy prison terms in one of Egypt's largest mass trials since the country's 2011 uprising, with 739 defendants facing charges.

The United Nations said the death sentences were the result of an "unfair trial" and warned if they were carried out would "represent a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice".