The army-backed Egyptian government’s decision to ban 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques is a throwback to Mubarak-era practices, Press TV reports.

The Tuesday announcement to ban unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques has brought back Mubarak-era practices as security forces play a key role in selecting clerics to give sermons, Zaki Osman, a professor at the Al-Azhar University told Press TV in a recent interview.

“The closure of the mosques, especially on Fridays, reminds one of Mubarak’s era and the return of the police state, depriving the people of their freedom which they have been long demanding.”


Egyptian Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said that clerics without licenses were considered to be fundamentalist and a threat to Egypt’s security.

The government move aims to legalize the institution of Friday prayers particularly in small mosques and random praying areas.

Cairo has been criticized as targeting preachers who support the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as those who have been speaking out against the July 3 announcement by the head of Egypt’s armed forces, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, that President Mohamed Morsi was no longer in office.

“We have around 50,000 mosques across the country, and I think the decision of the Minister of Religious Endowments to bar clerics will have negative consequences,” Osman said.

The army-appointed government has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi supporters ever since his ouster and arrested more than 2,000 Muslim Brotherhood members.