Egypt court labels Islamist Daesh group as terror organization

A Cairo Court for Urgent Matters designated on Sunday Islamic State (IS) organization, also known as Daesh, as a terror group, official news agency MENA reported.

The ruling came in favor of a lawsuit filed by an Egyptian advocate that demanded the group be labeled as a terror entity.

In his lawsuit, the lawyer claimed that IS fully backs terrorist acts the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terror group has carried out against Egypt's army in restive Sinai Peninsula.

IS, which rules large parts of war-torn Iraq and Syria, is labeled as terror group by the United States, the West and many Arab and Islamic states.

IS has no activities in Egypt, however many Egyptians have joined the group in Syria and Iraq. The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis was designated by court verdict as a terror group in April.

The United States also blacklisted Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis as a terror group earlier this year.

The group, which was founded in 2011, claimed responsibility of dozens of deadly attacks against Egypt military and police personnel and institutions across the country since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.

Last week, the Egyptian cabinet approved a draft anti-terrorism law incriminating any group that attempts to disturb general order or harm social peace as a terrorist group.