The Egyptian government has frozen the assets of a company that owns two independent newspapers, alleging links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mostafa Sakr, the chairman of Business News – the parent company of Al-Borsa, a financial newspaper, and Daily News Egypt, an English-language paper – said that the allegations against his company are false.
Sakr insisted that his companies "assets are clear" and that "they have just one source" of funding: advertisements and subscriptions, according to Reuters.
"We did not receive any explanations or even warnings about this beforehand whatsoever, so we are extremely surprised by this decision," he said.
He said the company has appealed the decision and will continue to operate as normal, at least for now.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which was the political party of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, was banned by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government in 2013. Sisi toppled Morsi's government in a military coup.
Since then, Sisi's government has targeted numerous organizations, journalists and activists with accusations of being associated with the group. But journalists and activists were also targeted and censored under Morsi's government.
A recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalist ranked Egypt third in the world for the number of imprisoned journalists. It ranks behind Turkey at No. 1 and China at No. 2.
Human rights groups have been highly critical of the Egyptian government's crackdown on journalists and activists. Many have been deported, imprisoned, tortured or even disappeared. A journalist viewed as pro-Sisi was recently blocked from traveling, after an interview he did with a tuk-tuk driver criticizing the government went viral.
Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced the president of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate and two board members to prison. They were accused of harboring fellow journalists wanted by the government and spreading false news.
