A ruling from an Egyptian administrative court on Tuesday has nullified a previous court decision to seize 20 schools on charges of having links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.
Last December, Cairo's Court for Urgent Matters ordered that the 20 schools be taken over for their alleged connections to the Brotherhood – deemed a terrorist organisation in the same month.
However, Tuesday's ruling declared the ruling void on the grounds that the court lacks the authority to rule in such matters, as per Egypt's laws governing NGOs passed in 2002.
The administrative court also said that the 20 schools have no links to the Brotherhood and that the decision to seize their funds is illegal.
A committee tasked with appraising the monetary assets of the Brotherhood has so far seized the funds of 30 Brotherhood leaders as well as those of 12 NGOs and six companies allegedly affiliated to the outlawed group.
The head of the committee, Ezzat Khamis, says its decisions are based on the investigations of security and executive bodies.
The alleged Brotherhood-affiliated companies operate in the fields of media production and contracting, he added.
Prosecutors have not released the names of the individuals, NGOs or companies whose funds were seized.
Since March, the panel has seized the funds of 702 Brotherhood leaders in addition to placing the management of 1,050 NGOs and some 147 schools believed to be affiliated with the group into a government trusteeship.
The Brotherhood was banned by a court ruling in September of last year, two months after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Short link: