On February 24, 2014, the Court for Urgent Matters officially repealed the High Administrative Court’s 2010 ban on police presence on university campuses. Interim President Adly Mansour has stated concerns with the increased frequency of protests on major university campuses, particularly by Muslim Brotherhood supporters. In mid-February 2014, Mansour also revised a law to allow university heads to expel student protesters from the university. Today’s court ruling goes further, now permitting the permanent deployment of security personnel on university campuses in order to maintain the peace.
Also on this date, the Court for Urgent Matters accepted the Cabinet’s request from December 2013 to officially recognize the Muslim Brotherhood as a banned terrorist organization. The interim government has blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for a series of attacks since the ousting of former-President Muhammad Morsi in June 2013, which have been targeted primarily at security personnel. The Muslim Brotherhood denied affiliation with the attackers and repeatedly condemned the attacks and other violent activities. As a newly confirmed terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood is subject to Article 86 of the Egyptian penal code, which provides a broad definition for terrorism.