By AFP

Egypt's top court Saturday removed the names of ex-football star Mohamed Aboutrika and 1,500 others from "terrorist" lists over their alleged links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a lawyer said.

"The Court of Cassation heard our defence pleas and overturned the judgement listing our clients as terrorists," human rights lawyer Khaled Ali told AFP.

"The criminal court's ruling has been annulled, and a new hearing will take place to re-examine the case," he added.

The lower court in Cairo decided to list Aboutrika as a "terrorist" in January 2017, accusing him of helping to finance the Brotherhood which was ruled a "terrorist" organisation in 2013.

Aboutrika was on the Egyptian national team in 2006 and 2008 when they were African champions, and was also African Player of the Year four times.

He publicly backed the Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the 2012 presidential election, and Mohamed Morsi subsequently became the first democratically elected president in the Arab world's most populous country.

Morsi was overthrown in 2013 by the military then led by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the current president of Egypt.

In 2021, the court of cassation extended for a further two years the classification on the "terrorist" list of Aboutrika and another 1,529 people, including Brotherhood leaders and their children.

Under legislation adopted in 2015, anyone suspected of "terrorism" is not allowed to leave the country, and has their passport withdrawn and assets frozen.

The 45-year-old Aboutrika is still very popular in Egypt. He is currently in Qatar as a football commentator on the beIN SPORTS channel.