Five publishing houses allegedly affiliated with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood have been seized by the Egyptian government, a committee tasked with appraising and freezing the funds of the organisation said in an official statement on Tuesday.

The committee decided to seize the publishing houses of Dar El-Fath Arabic Media, Arab Media Centre, Dar El-Fadila, Iqraa Publishing House and Hroof for Publishing and Distribution.

The former Minister of Information and fugitive- since 2013, Salah Abdel-Maksoud, heads the Arab Media Centre.

The publishing houses were handed over by the committee to the Ministry of Culture. The culture ministry is expected to operate the five publishing houses.

p> The committee has thus far frozen the funds and taken control of over a thousand NGOs and nearly 100 schools allegedly affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as seized the assets of over 700 of the groups' leaders.