Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has said its Islamic principles will ensure it survives despite a "politicised" decision to ban the decades-old group.
The statement on Wednesday came hours after an appeal court in Cairo upheld a decision to ban the group and any group derived from it, and for its assets to be seized.
"The Muslim Brotherhood is not a sentence that can be crossed out of a book, or a shop that can have its license revoked by an administrative decision or a politicised ruling," the statement said.
The Brotherhood has been preaching moderate Islam for 85 years and has deep roots across the country, the statement added.
The Islamist movement was officially dissolved in 1954, but operated in the shadows for decades, becoming the country's largest opposition group. It also focused on preaching, and social and charity work.
The court ruling is part of a fierce campaign by the authorities to neutralise the group which has seen hundreds of its members killed and thousands arrested, including its senior leaders.
The ban is expected to heighten tensions between the authorities and Islamists and to drive the group - which won a majority in parliament and whose candidate, Mohamed Morsi, was elected president following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak - back underground where it spent decades under successive autocrats.
The court ruling also indicates the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, might be barred from running in elections expected to take place by mid-2014.
The Islamist movement has already balked at the transitional roadmap so as not to "legitimise" what it says was a coup against Morsi. But the military said it was responding to the will of the people when it overthrew him after millions protested against his troubled year in power.
Islamists have vowed to persist with appealing the ban.
"Our foes use all sorts of violence, terrorism and physical and psychological attacks against us," the statement added, citing the "killing, detention, and seizure of our premises and funds, and a campaign of slander in the media."
Late on Wednesday, Morsi's relatives, including his wife and son, took part in a protest on the outskirt of the capital to call for his reinstatement, state news agency MENA reported.
Brotherhood loyalists have been holding almost daily protests demanding Morsi's reinstatement since his ouster, but their numbers have dwindled.
Morsi is on trial for inciting violence. His trial began on Monday and was adjourned by a judge to early January.
