CAIRO, Mar 26 (Aswat Masriya) - The committee established to manage the funds of the Muslim Brotherhood seized on Thursday the assets of a number of sentenced defendants as well as a charity organisation for ties with the banned group.

The committee confiscated the assets of 18 defendants sent to prison by a military tribunal after being accused of bombing power transformers, the committee's secretary general said in a statement.

It also seized nearly 1,500,000 Egyptian pounds belonging to Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy.

Hegazy, a strong supporter of Brotherhood politician and ousted President Mohamed Mursi, has been in custody since 2013 and faces a slew of charges.

He has been sentenced to 15 years in prison last August after being convicted of torturing a lawyer in Tahrir Square during the January 2011 uprising. Hegazy has also been sentenced to a year in prison in April 2014 for insulting the judiciary.

The committee was formed following the September 2013 court ruling which ordered banning the Brotherhood's activities in the country. The ruling stipulated banning activities of any association that branches from the Brotherhood, that was founded by Brotherhood funds or that receives any form of support from the Brotherhood.

It announced in January seizing the assets of 901 Muslim Brotherhood members and 1096 associations so far.  

Egypt listed the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation in December 2013 and insists it is behind the stringent wave of militancy which has targeted security personnel since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. The Brotherhood continuously denies the accusations.