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Police have indicted Hassan Shehata Moussa, a mosque preacher who hosted a religious show on Egyptian public television in the 1990s, accusing him of  leading the illegal group. According to authorities, the "Shiite organization" includes more than 300 people, mostly Arab students living in the country.

The general prosecutor formally accused Moussa of using Friday sermons in promoting his Shiite ideals, recruiting foreign elements, leading a banned group, receiving financial support from foreign governments, as well as  possessing books defaming Sunnism.

Police investigators say Moussa is strongly supported by the Iranian Shiite regime, adding that the preacher previously spent two months in Iran, from where he traveled to Syria to meet with senior officials, including an official in the office of Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The rift between Shiites and Sunnis is centuries old, but the recent arrests also reflect the regional political tensions between Cairo and Tehran.