Egypt court blacklists Hamas militants as 'terror group'

CAIRO (Xinhua) - An Egyptian court on Saturday banned al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas as "a terrorist organization."

"The court decided to ban the al-Qassam Brigades and to list it as a terrorist group, deeming all those belonging to it as terrorists," said a judiciary official of Cairo Urgent Matters Court.

The court ruling came two days after a series of bloody attacks occurred in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula and killed at least 33 soldiers and policemen.

According to the official, al-Qassam Brigades was accused of carrying out terrorist attacks and killing over 30 people in late October 2014. The group was also blamed for supporting the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, from which ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi hailed.

The lawyer who filed the lawsuit against Hamas accused its armed wing of taking part in many acts of aggression against the Egyptian Armed Forces and the police.

"Al-Qassam Brigades and the mother organization Hamas continued financing and joining terrorist operations on the Egyptian soil using the secret tunnels at the borders with the Gaza Strip for smuggling weapons," the claimant said, accusing Hamas of attempting to jeopardize Egypt's security and stability.

In response, Hamas denounced the ruling as "politicized, dangerous and unprecedented," arguing the decision only serves the Israeli occupation.

"Hamas, which is a liberation movement that only fights the Israeli occupation, completely rejects the court's decision and rejects pushing its name into the internal Egyptian affair," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Xinhua in an emailed statement, adding that "the Egyptian court has to preview its decision immediately."