A Cairo court adjourned to 17 January Saturday a case calling for the dissolution of the Nour Party, the largest of the Islamist parties left in Egypt. 

The premise of the lawsuit is that the Salafist party, which was established as the political arm of the Salafist Call following the January 25 Revolution, is in violation of the constitution approved in January that bans parties formed on a religious basis.

The case also calls for the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). The FJP, however, has already been dissolved by court order in August and its assets seized as security clamp down on a large number of Islamist forces.

Ashraf Thabet, a leading figure of Nour Party, previously told Ahram Online: “We are confident that the verdict will acknowledge the right of the party to continue its political activities, because contrary to the allegation made by the lawyers who started the lawsuit, Nour is not a religious-based party; Al-Nour is a party that allows and welcomes membership of all Egyptians with no discrimination; its base is Article 2 of the constitution which stipulates that Islamic jurisprudence is the key source of all legislation."

The party, which came second in elections in 2011, occupying the majority of seats in the 2012 parliament, said it would push for high numbers of seats in the next parliament, scheduled to convene by the end of March 2015, after upcoming elections.

When Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected president in 2012, Nour Party became one of his supporters. However, it took a neutral stance during the 30 June 2013 protests that called for his ouster as the Brotherhood held counter-demonstrations, causing a political rift.

In the days that followed, Nour Party supported the political roadmap agreed upon by anti-Morsi forces on 3 July, and later supported ex-army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in his presidential bid.