Syria Muslim Brotherhood rejects Russia-sponsored peace talks

December 28, 2017

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has categorically rejected the Sochi conference sponsored by Russia scheduled for the end of January.

In a statement released yesterday, the group said that the conference is an attempt to consolidate the Russian occupation and ignore the political solution stipulated in the Geneva resolutions, which starts with the formation of a fully-fledged transitional authority which does not include Bashar Al-Assad and his regime.

The group reiterated its adherence to the principles of the Syrian revolution of overthrowing Al-Assad and his regime and rebuilding the country as a state of justice, freedom, equality and human dignity.

It also called on all revolutionary forces and Syrian national figures to boycott the Sochi conference. The Syrian opposition negotiating body said there was widespread rejection of the conference among opposition groups.

Russia, Turkey and Iran, the guarantors of the ceasefire in Syria agreed at the conclusion of the Astana 8 meeting last week to hold the Syrian national dialogue conference in the Russian resort of Sochi on 29-30 January.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171228-syria-muslim-brotherhood-rejects-russia-sponsored-peace-talks/.

Will Jordan ban the Muslim Brotherhood?

Author Osama Al Sharif
April 6, 2016

Two incidents in March have heightened tensions between Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood Group (MBG) and the government to the point of raising speculation about the future of the 70-year-old Islamist movement.

In the first incident, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the MBG's political arm, received notice March 13 from the governor of Aqaba ordering the closure of its office in that port city to comply with a court order. The closure was based on a complaint by the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS), an offshoot founded last year by disaffected MBG members, regarding a legal dispute over ownership of the property. It is the first time the IAF has been involved in a dispute between the MBG and the MBS.

Following the MBS' registration in March 2015, the government asserted that the MBG lacked legal registration. It was therefore prevented from holding public rallies and other events. The MBG insisted that it has had a known legal presence since its establishment in the 1940s. In the second incident, on March 31, the governor of Amman informed MBG officials that because their group was not officially registered, they were prohibited from holding internal elections to select Shura Council members and a general overseer.

It remains unclear whether the government is moving closer to banning the MBG or whether it is forcing it to limit its activities to the IAF, which has been officially registered as a political party since 1992. The government's actions follow parliament’s adoption in March of a new election law, which all Islamist parties in the kingdom had welcomed. The IAF boycotted the 2013 local elections to protest the one-person, one-vote electoral system, which had been in place for decades and has been removed in the new law. Under the old law, voters could only cast their ballot for a single candidate, even if there were multiple parliamentary seats available in their district. Now a voter can cast a number of votes equal to the number of available seats in his district.

Khaled al-Kalaldeh, Jordan's minister of political development, denies that the government is considering banning the MBG. He told Al-Monitor, “The government is dealing with this issue with restraint knowing the weight of the group and its party on the popular political scene.” Kalaldeh admitted, however, that there might be pressure from certain political centers inside the government that want a confrontation in light of recent divisions within the Islamist movement.

He also emphasized that forbidding the MBG to hold internal elections is based on the legal complaint made by the registered MBS, which has claimed that the MBG is illegally using its name. “The fact is that the [MBG] is not a legal entity, and this has nothing to do with any government position,” Kalaldeh asserted.

The MBG has been struggling with internal divisions for years. In 2013, a group of moderate members calling for bold reforms launched what became the Zamzam Initiative. They opposed the movement’s decision to boycott elections and wanted the MBG to sever its historical ties to the main group in Egypt. In addition, they called on the MBG to focus on national issues and to act as an opposition in the political system. Having been repeatedly rebuffed by the hawkish leadership of the MBG, the members behind Zamzam, who were later expelled from the MBG, decided to form their own movement. On March 26, the Zamzam leadership unveiled plans to establish their own political party to contest legislative elections expected to be held later this year.

Irhail al-Gharaibeh, general coordinator for the Zamzam Initiative, told Al-Monitor that he expects the government to dissolve the MBG, because it is not registered in Jordan, and defended the decision to prevent the group from holding internal elections. “It has no legal structure, and if the group insists on holding elections, then the authorities must intervene and take action,” Gharaibeh said.

According to Gharaibeh, the divisions within the MBG are long-standing, but they resurfaced following the events of the Arab Spring. “We wanted to have flexibility in political action and to avoid the mistakes of the past,” he said. “But the conservatives rejected our efforts, and we as reformers had to take action through what we call conciliatory democracy.”

Gharaibeh warned that the Islamist movement in Jordan could collapse if it fails to adapt and that it should break from its ideological trenches and accept competition based on merit rather than tribe. He reiterated the decision by the Zamzam Initiative to contest future elections as a moderate Islamist party.

Ali Abu al-Sukkar, former chairman of the MBG’s Shura Council, dismissed speculation that the government's recent decisions might eventually lead to banning the group. “Practically and historically, we had a good working relationship with governments, and we were never extreme in our policies,” he told Al-Monitor.

Abu al-Sukkar described the present relationship as tepid, but said it would never result in a total break. “The rise of the Islamist movement in the region has raised fears here, and the presence of Daesh [the Islamic State] has created a fear of Islamist parties,” he said. Abu al-Sukkar also said the MBG will hold its internal elections before the end of this month, regardless of the government's position.

Meanwhile, the MBS has announced its intention to participate in this year's parliamentary elections, but has not yet filed for a political party license. On April 3, its Shura Council adopted a unanimous decision to end years of political boycott, which began with the 2013 IAF election boycott.

The fragmentation of the Islamist movement is already having an effect on society. On March 30, the Teachers Association, the largest professional union in Jordan, held general elections and the results clearly revealed the MBGs waning popularity. The group's candidates lost ground to independents, who won 56% of the seats on the union's central committee.

These results will be used by MBG critics to point to its exaggerated influence on the Jordanian electorate. The real test, however, will be how the IAF performs in legislative elections in competition against the two new planned Islamist parties. Meanwhile, as the government’s legal siege against the MBG continues, the group's big showdown, its internal elections, awaits the end of this month.

Source: al-Monitor.
Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/muslim-brotherhood-group-jordan-government-tension.html.

Brotherhood reacts to Erdogan remarks

Wed Sep 14, 2011

Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call on Egyptians to adopt a secular constitution.

Mahmoud Ghuzlan, the spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood, considered Erdogan's comments as interference in Egypt's local affairs. He stated that the experiments of other countries should not be cloned, the Dubai-based Al Arabiya news network reported on Wednesday.

“Turkey's conditions imposed on it to deal with the secular concept,” a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said.

“A secular state respects all religions. Do not be wary of secularism. I hope there will be a secular state in Egypt,” Erdogan said in an interview with an Egyptian private satellite TV channel prior to his visit to Egypt.

He stressed that people have the right to choose whether or not to be religious, adding that he is a Muslim prime minister for a secular state.

It is generally believed that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has geared up for the November election in which its newly formed Freedom and Justice Party is looking forward to win half of the parliamentary seats.

The Brotherhood endured years of repression until Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular revolution in February after 30 years of autocratic rule.

Founded in 1928, the group has maintained strong support in Egypt's Muslim society although it has been officially illegal since 1954.

Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, independent Muslim Brotherhood candidates won nearly one-fifth of Egypt's parliamentary seats in the 2005 general elections.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199142.html.

Muslim Brotherhood gears up for campaign season

Sept. 14, 2011

CAIRO, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt announced that candidates for its political party were gearing up for upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is expected to announce a date for opening nominations for parliamentary elections by the end of September. SCAF said it was having separate elections for each house to allow for proper judicial oversight.

Mokhtar Ali, a former member of the Egyptian Parliament with the Muslim Brotherhood, said the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, was gearing up for election season.

"We will start campaigning in the coming few weeks," he was quoted by Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm as saying.

Ali's statements followed a closed-door political conference organized by the Freedom and Justice Party. The group said following the conference it was becoming frustrated with SCAF's policies, notably a decision to return to emergency laws in the country.

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington had concerns about SCAF's commitments to the rule of law.

"As such, we have encouraged the transitional government to lift the state of emergency immediately," she said.

SCAF is facing mounting pressure because of the perception it isn't moving fast enough with post-revolutionary reforms.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/14/Muslim-Brotherhood-gears-up-for-campaign-season/UPI-38411316009708/.

Muslim Bros. question ongoing protests

Sept. 9, 2011

CAIRO, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Egypt isn't ripe for another round of mass protests because the country is slowly moving in the right direction, the Muslim Brotherhood said.

Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and members of his inner circle are on trial in connection to the deaths of some 800 protesters killed during the revolution early this year, which ended his 30-year grip on power.

Protesters since the revolution have occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square calling on the country's military leadership to hurry with political reforms and bring those responsible for atrocities during the revolution to justice.

Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said the country was moving in the right direction, al-Jazeera reports.

Mohsen Rady, a high-ranking member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was quoted as saying most Egyptians "have grown bored of these demonstrations."

Thousands of people flocked to Tahrir Square after Friday prayers complaining about the military leadership. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said it respected the right to peaceful protest but warned it would respond if demonstrations got out of hand.

Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency and presidential hopeful, maintained that many of the revolutionary goals haven't yet been met.

(Please note when this article was originally done).

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/09/Muslim-Bros-question-ongoing-protests/UPI-64041315580904/.

Egypt's Brotherhood declares war on the bikini

By DAVID E. MILLER / THE MEDIA LINE
08/28/2011

"Freedom and Justice" party leader: "We must place regulations on tourists wishing to visit Egypt."

Sunbathing in Alexandria may soon be a thing of the past, at least if some Egyptian Islamist politicians have their way.

Egypt's tourism industry has suffered a severe blow since the outburst of anti-regime demonstrations in January. But that did not stop the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, from demanding stricter regulations over what tourists can do and wear while visiting the country. The party is urging officials to ban skimpy swimwear and the consumption of alcohol on Egyptian streets.

"Beach tourism must take the values and norms of our society into account," Muhammad Saad Al-Katatny, secretary-general of Freedom and Justice, told Egyptian tourism officials on Monday. "We must place regulations on tourists wishing to visit Egypt, which we will announce in advance."

The call for new strictures on tourists comes as Egypt debates the role of Islam in the post-Mubarak era. Freedom and Justice is competing in elections scheduled for this autumn for parliament and opinion polls show a majority of Egyptians favor a greater use of Islamic law and mores. But a vocal minority worries that Egypt risks becoming an Islamic republic.

"This is how things began in Iran," Hani Henry, a psychology professor at the American University in Cairo, told The Media Line. "The moderate youth wanted to implement changes, but the Mullah's hijacked the revolution. The same thing is now happening here in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Along with Suez Canal tolls and energy exports, tourism is a major source of foreign exchange for Egypt. But with protests, strikes, and continued violence in the cities and Sinai Peninsula months after President Husni Mubarak was forced to step down, foreigners have hesitated to visit the country, which offers some of the world’s most spectacular antiquities as well as beaches and scuba diving.

Finance Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi told the Reuters news agency earlier this month that revenue from tourism would likely total $10 billion in the financial year that started on July 1, compared with $11.6 billion in 2009/10.

Al-Katatny told Al-Masry Al-Youm daily that his party had already set up a subcommittee to investigate the issue of incoming tourism to Egypt and planned to amend legislation following the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"Some slight changes will be made in public beaches, to make the situation better than it was before," Ali Khafagy, youth director of Freedom and Justice in Giza, told The Media Line. "Bathing suits and mixing on the beach are things that go against our tradition. It's not just a matter of religion. When I go to the beach I don't want to see nudity."

He said modest bathing gear or separate beaches for men and women are possible alternatives to the current situation.

Khafagy stressed that tourists would be free to do as they please in specially designated areas, adding that his party supported incoming tourism to the country. But that did not satisfy the heads of Egypt's tourism industry, who met with the party’s secretary-general Al-Katatny for a heated debate on Monday.

"Without alcohol and bathing suits, no tourists will come and we will loose $13 billion a year," Hussam A-Shaer, head of the tourist company association, told Al-Masry al-Youm.

But bathing suits are not the only worry of Egypt’s Islamists. Abd Al-Munim A-Shahhat, a spokesman for the Salafi group Dawa, has said that Egypt's world-renowned pharaonic archeology – its pyramids, Sphinx and other monuments covered with un-Islamic imagery – should also be hidden from the public eye.

"The pharaonic culture is a rotten culture," A-Shahhat told the London-based Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday, saying the faces of ancient statues "should be covered with wax, since they are religiously forbidden." He likened the Egyptian relics to the idols which circled the walls of Mecca in pre-Islamic times.

The Islamist challenges to the tourism industry in post-revolutionary Egypt have led to the establishment of the Coalition to Support Tourism, whose members also met with Al-Katatny on Monday. The coalition, which includes a broad array of travel industry organizations and figures, argued that the real problem isn’t modesty but the absence of any strategy on the part of Egypt's new parties to protect the country's faltering tourism industry.

"Some parties want to ban tourism, or allow it while banning alcohol, certain foods and certain clothes. [A couple] renting a room will require documents proving they are married," wrote the coalition administrator on the group's Facebook page. "These proposals don’t bode well, as many of you know."

Henry of the American University said two classes of beaches already exist in Egypt, with modestly dressed, generally poor Egyptians occupying some and foreign tourists occupying others, mostly in the resorts of the Sinai Peninsula. He said he considered imposition of sharia law in Egypt "an act of aggression" that he would not tolerate.

Islamists have never been enamored of foreign tourism and before they were crushed by the Mubarak regime foreign visitors were often targeted for killings. Close to 60 Western tourists were killed by Islamist terrorists in the southern city of Luxor in 1997. Tourists were also attacked in bombings in the Sinai resorts of Taba, Sharm Al-Sheikh and Dahab in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

But Al-Katatny said that the Muslim Brotherhood regards Egypt's archeology as belonging to all of humanity, and should therefore be safeguarded.

"This heritage belongs to everyone, and one can't simply remove something he doesn't like," he told Al-Ahram daily.

Source: The Jerusalem Post.
Link: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=235687.

Muslim Brotherhood party leaders meet with Russian diplomat

Thursday 11 Aug 2011

Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party met with the acting Russian ambassador to Cairo Ivan Molotocov in the party’s headquarters Wednesday morning.

In a phone call with the Moscow News Agency, party officials confirmed the news, adding that the party’s chairman, Mohamed Morsi, and the party’s general secretary, Saad El-Katanany, attended the meeting.

The meeting comes a few weeks after a US diplomat announced that Washington will resume its contacts with the Brotherhood. The group's leaders said that any communication with the international realm is welcomed by them.

The Russian diplomat stated that the reason behind that visit was to know the vision of the party regarding the future of Egypt through direct contact with the party and its leaders.

Morsi, for his part, underlined the importance of Egyptian-Russian relations, saying there was a similarity between Egypt and Russia in regards to democratic transition.

The Brotherhood-affiliated party officials answered questions from the acting Russian ambassador regarding the party's policies, particularly if it favors a religious state, something party officials strongly deny.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/18635.aspx.

Muslim Brotherhood Holds First Public Elections

Daniel Finnan
7 August 2011

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has told RFI that its internal election on Saturday was an exercise in democracy.

The previously banned group appointed three new senior figures for the organization's newly formed Freedom and Justice party. The Brotherhood says a new political "era" in Egypt should be inclusive and take account of more conservative Islamic movements.

"Islam is compatible with democracy," says spokesman Essam El-Eriam. "The Muslim Brotherhood applies democracy and chooses its leaders according to democratic rule through elections".

The ballot resulted in the appointment of three senior figures: Abdel Azim Abou Seif, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Hossam Abou Bakr.

The Brotherhood has previously come under fire for what some people see as support for the country's Supreme Council of Armed Forces which took over from toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

However on Sunday the organization's political wing issued a statement criticizing the appointment of governors from the former regime. It expressed concern over the role of Osama El-Fouly and Abel Labib in the government.

"We think that this is a transitional period, it needs solidarity and unity of the whole population. But now we are waiting for the new democratic era in Egypt which must be free and fair," says Eriam.

The organization is seen by some as one of Egypt's most organized political forces following years of repression under the rule of Mubarak. In the 2005 election it won a fifth of the parliamentary seats when its candidates ran as independents.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Sufis said on Sunday that they would hold a mass rally on Friday to counter the advance of Islamists in Egyptian politics, according to the Ahram publication.

Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Khalek el-Shabrawy, a senior Sufi leader, said the demonstration would be held under the banner "For the Love of Egypt". It would advocate national unity, but also act as a counter to what Ahram calls a "rising tide of conservative Salafist forces".

In reaction Eriam says that this rally shows that "all Egyptians now are working for a real democracy" which means "no dictatorship - not for the majority and not for the minority".

Although he admits that ignoring Salafists - Islamic fundamentalists - may be more dangerous than their inclusion.

"Those are sectors of the society and must be included in political life. Without including them there may be of course some trouble. We need to include and have inclusive democracy open for all political societal groups," he added.

Salafists are suspected of attacking Sufi shrines in the aftermath of the country's uprising.

Islamists held a large protest on 29 July calling for the establishment of an Islamic state.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201108080006.html.

Palestine Muslim Brotherhood founder dead at 91

Friday 16/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Sheikh Asaad Hasniyeh, one of the founders of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, died in Gaza on Friday. He was 91.

Hasniyeh was considered one of the leading members of the Brotherhood in the coastal strip, and established the Islamic society in Gaza City.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445468.

Brotherhood to establish Islamic studies center

Ghada Mohamed Al-Sherif
Fri, 10/06/2011

Muslim Brotherhood Deputy General Guide Khairat al-Shater said the group is preparing to establish an Islamic studies center that aims to help rebuild Egypt on the principles of Islamic Sharia.

“The brothers after the revolution want to play a strategic role after they have been marginalized for many years,” Shater said during a symposium Wednesday. “More than 30,000 of them were jailed since 1992 until Mubarak was ousted.

“We shall coordinate with all political forces, including the Shias and the Copts,” he said, adding that rebuilding the country on the principles of Sharia is a difficult task.

He said the nation needs new schools that teach humanities with an Islamic reference and that the absence of Islamic rule and jurisprudence has harmed the nation.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/466613.

Muslim Brotherhood officially enters Egyptian politics

June 8, 2011
By Kristen Chick

Egypt's interim government this week recognized the new political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, a formerly banned group that is seeking a prominent role in the new Egypt.

After being officially banned from politics for decades, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is charging into the political fray under its official banner, looking to become a major player in the post-revolution government.

Egypt’s interim government this week officially recognized the group’s new political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, clearing it to participate in September parliamentary elections. The party has pledged to contest about half the seats, leading to predictions that the Brotherhood will be a dominant force in the new political landscape.

But it may be less formidable than it appears. The organization’s response to the new freedom in Egypt is exposing cracks in its facade. In particular, it has alienated some young members who participated in the uprising to overthrow former President Hosni Mubarak, only to turn around and discover their own leaders wielding heavy-handed tactics.

While Brotherhood leaders say the Freedom and Justice Party is independent of the Brotherhood, they have appointed prominent members of their organization to lead the party and forbidden Brotherhood members from joining any other parties. They have also opposed the presidential run of a popular Brotherhood reformist, questioning members who have publicly supported him.

“We have a different vision for political reform in Egypt [than the Brotherhood does],” says Ali Abdel Hafiz, a young Brotherhood member who is particularly unhappy about the ban on joining other parties. “It's not a wise decision to just collect all these political ideologies in one party. Why don't you make everyone free to make their own parties?”

Rigid organization could lead to group's collapse

Mr. Abdel Hafiz, a cheerful graduate student in engineering, and hundreds of other young members considered leaving the Brotherhood and forming their own party. They have deferred that decision until later, but Abdel Hafiz is half expecting to be kicked out of the organization for his public support for Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a Brotherhood member running for president against the wishes of the leadership.

Dr. Aboul Fotouh is a reformist who is well-liked by many of the Brotherhood youth. Brotherhood leaders have approached some of his young supporters and questioned them or asked them to choose between the organization and Fotouh, says Abdel Hafiz.

Such tactics might have worked when the group was suppressed by an authoritarian regime, but they will not help the Brotherhood succeed in the new, freer Egypt, says Ibrahim El Houdaiby, a former member of the Brotherhood who is now an independent analyst.

“The Brotherhood has two options. The first is to be a rigid organization that insists on having only one legal political manifestation, and in that case the Brotherhood would eventually collapse,” he says. “The other is to be a more flexible organization, allowing different political manifestations and retreating from the political domain to the civil domain and operating in the background of society to shape ... social roles and so forth. In this case, it would grow more powerful. It would be able to capitalize as an organization on the social capital.”

Abdel Hafiz has a vision for the Brotherhood along the lines of that second option, where the Brotherhood would remain a social force, but leave members to participate in politics independently and not obligate them to join a certain party. The Brotherhood has long poured its energy into social welfare projects and proselytizing as well as political participation.

But with leaders proceeding along the first path, Houdaiby predicts a slow exodus from the group as members react to the rigidness from the top and discover they have new options in the new Egypt. While they may all come from the same foundation of wanting Islam to govern social and political life, the group’s members differ in specific political and economic, policies, he says.

Brotherhood's defense

Brotherhood leaders defend the organization’s actions in setting up the Freedom and Justice Party, saying that the party is independent of the Brotherhood and members will elect leaders as soon as party elections are feasible.

Essam El Erian, a longtime member of the Guidance Bureau and newly appointed deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, says it is not restrictive to prevent Brotherhood members from joining other parties. “It is of course, a very natural decision,” he says. “It is nonsense to create many parties from one organization. How can anyone imagine that one organization should create two or three parties?”

But Aboul Fotouh, the Brotherhood member who last month announced he would run as an independent presidential candidate, disagrees.

“This is against the way of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he says. “The Muslim Brotherhood cannot obligate any of its members to take a certain view in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) or economics or politics.” He also criticizes the Brotherhood for appointing party members, rather than electing them.

The former pediatrician’s decision to run for president as an independent has revealed another vein of dissent in the Brotherhood. As a long-time reformer in the Brotherhood, whose views are more moderate than the leadership, he is more popular among reform-minded youth than among the group’s leaders.

Brotherhood leaders said they would not run a presidential candidate, and the fall race for the top seat could turn into a situation where the Muslim Brotherhood is telling its members to vote against one of their own.

The numbers of young Brotherhood members publicly supporting Aboul Fotouh and criticizing the leadership are still small. But that could change. “We've a very small number but our voices are loud,” says Abdel Hafiz. “I think they are afraid that if we go away, other people will follow us.”

Source: The Christian Science Monitor.
Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0608/Muslim-Brotherhood-officially-enters-Egyptian-politics.

MB in Yemen Calls For Transitional Governing Council

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen issued a statement concerning the current situation in the country, and highlighting that the country is at the threshold of a new phase of its revolution, especially after a split is seen between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a number of his aids.

According to the statement, all responsible for the killings must be arrested, tried and punished. It stressed that out of patriotic responsibility all the revolutionary forces their components, and patriotic forces both at home and abroad must begin the formation of a transitional civilian council to manage and administrate the state and the country during this transitional period.

Furthermore, the Yemeni MB called for new constitution that defines the principles of a civil state, and the preparations for the upcoming early presidential and parliamentary elections.

The statement ended that the Yemeni MB emphasizes the necessity to form public defense committees and neighborhood watches in all the Yemeni cities, villages and rural areas to protect the public and private properties from the possible attacks of the collapsed regime remnants.

Source: Ikhwanweb.
Link: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=28677.

Jordanian MB Forms Political Alliance to Fight Corruption

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Disregarding ideological differences, Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, the Islamic Action Front, and leftist parties formed a National Reform Front (NRF) to combat corruption.

According to PM Ahmed Obeidat, the coalition was formed to create a national reform strategy. He asserted that the NRF's priority is to put the country on the right democratic track and to fight corruption and tyranny which are Jordan’s main problems. He added that fighting corruption starts with reforming the regime itself.

Mohammad Masri, a researcher at the University of Jordan’s Center for Strategic Studies stated that Jordan’s corruption was similar to the situation in the region, referring to Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, where corruption was a key element responsible for the uprisings.

Since January, Jordan has been facing a protest movement demanding political and economic reforms, and an end to corruption.

Source: Ikhwanweb.
Link: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=28664.

Brotherhood withdraws representatives from youth coalition

Hany ElWaziry
Sat, 28/05/2011

The Muslim Brotherhood announced on Saturday that the group no longer has any official representatives in the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition.

Mohamed al-Qassas, a young Brotherhood coalition member, said the decision came in response to disagreements leading up to the second Friday of Anger which took place last Friday.

The Brotherhood leadership rejected Friday’s demonstrations in Tahrir Square to demand the swift prosecution of corrupt regime figures, call for a civilian-led national council to lead the country, do away with the country’s current constitution, and other demands. The group said the demonstration attempted to drive a wedge between the people and the armed forces. Nevertheless, some Brotherhood members decided to participate against the will of their leadership.

The secretary general of the Brotherhood in Egypt, Mahmoud Hussein, said in a press statement: "The Muslim Brotherhood announces that the group's representatives in the Coordinating Committee of the 25 January revolution are Adel Afifi and Osama Yassin, and that it has no representatives in the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition".

The Brotherhood previously had two representatives in the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition, Qassas and Islam Lotfy.

"I haven't been notified that I'm not the Muslim Brotherhood representative anymore, and I think this came as a response to our participation in the second Friday of Anger," said Qassas.

He pointed out that he and Lotfy had received the approval of the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide and his deputy to represent the group in the coalition.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/454852.

Brotherhood sheikh to run for president

Hany ElWaziry
Sun, 29/05/2011

Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail announced his intention to run in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections.

He said that if elected he would implement Islamic sharia law and cancel the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Ismail was the Brotherhood’s candidate in 2005 parliamentary elections for Dokki in Giza.

The group announced earlier that it would not take part in the presidential elections and confirmed that it would compete for only half the seats in Parliament. But Ismail is the second Brotherhood member to have announced his intention to run for president in defiance of the group's leadership. The other Brotherhood candidate is Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, a liberal-minded Islamist.

Abu Ismail said Saturday during a speech in a Dokki mosque that he will sweep the elections. Since he is an ordinary man, he said, the masses will support him.

Abu Ismail said that his platform revolves around Islam, while "Mohamed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, the liberal candidates, will be unable to present a clear vision” for the country.

“If I could apply sharia in Egypt, all people, including non-Muslims, would applaud me four years later,” said Abu Ismail.

The sheikh said that no current presidential candidate represents the Egyptian people.

“We seek to apply Islamic law, but those who don’t want it prefer cabarets, alcohol, dancers and prostitution, as the implementation of Islamic law will prohibit women to appear naked in movies and on beaches,” Abu Ismail added.

For his opinion on Brotherhood, he said, “They are chaste people and my opinion would not change even if they don’t support me.”

Concerning the peace treaty with Israel, he said, “The Camp David peace treaty is insulting to the Egyptian people, so it must be canceled, and I will do my best to convince people to cancel it.”

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/455693.

Muslim Brotherhood opens new headquarters in Egypt after 60 years

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has opened its new headquarters in Cairo after 60 years of being banned, in a ceremony attended by officials from a Turkish Islamist party.

Felicity Party, or SP, deputy leader Hasan Bitmez and board member Oğuzhan Asiltürk were among the political figures from Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Somalia and Turkey that attended the opening ceremony in the Moqattam area along with Egyptian intellectuals.

“For 60 years we were considered an illegal group, we were raided and arrested by the police all the time, but now we have our headquarters legally and we even put the logo of the Muslim Brotherhood onto the chairs,” one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Sunday.

Bitmez said the Muslim Brotherhood will play an important role in the future of Egypt, the Anatolia news agency reported. His colleague Asiltürk said it was very good that the Muslim Brotherhood now has a headquarters in Cairo after such a long time.

The chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Mohamed Badie, who presided over the opening of the headquarters, said the group’s aim was “to have a civilian government with a reference to Islam.”

Dr. Abdel Ghaffar said the Muslim Brotherhood now had offices in 26 cities and aimed to have one in every city in Egypt.

Founded by the schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in the Suez Canal town of Ismailia in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was one of the first and most successful movements advocating Islam as a political program in a modern context.

Within 20 years the movement grew to more than 500,000 members, with several branch movements in other Arab countries.

The Egyptian government banned the Brotherhood in 1954 after accusing it of trying to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a charge the group has always denied.

The movement had been using an apartment as its “communication center” until former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled in January.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=muslim-brotherhood-opens-its-new-headquarters-after-60-years-2011-05-22.

Badie Congratulates New Arab League Chief

Monday, May 16, 2011

Muslim Brotherhood chairman Dr. Mohamed Badie congratulated Dr. Nabil el Araby for emerging as the new Arab League Chief. In a statement he hoped that his tenure would be a blessing to the Arab world and people.

Thanking him for his performance as Egypt’s Interior Minister during the few short months following the Egyptian Revolution, Badie called on him to continue in his outstanding efforts as the new Arab League Chief. He stated that the role would have a new purpose following the Arab uprisings which were witnessed worldwide and that it was imperative that the Arab states moved forward, citing that the process of healing must begin now.

Badie ended his statement thanking the former Arab League chief Dr. Amr Mousa for his past efforts, wishing him all the best in whatever role and capacity he would be given.

Source: Ikhwanweb.
Link: http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=28579.

Muslim Brotherhood leader to run for Egypt presidency

11/05/2011

A leader of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement will run for the post of Egyptian president as an independent candidate, the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper said on Wednesday.

"Abdul Munim Abu al-Futuh has decided to run in the presidential election in response to numerous appeals by his supporters," the newspaper said.

The Brotherhood, which on Tuesday started official procedures for the establishment of its Freedom and Justice political party, said it would not put forward an official candidate for the presidential elections and would not support any independent candidate associated with the movement.

The overthrow of long-time Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in February led to fears that the Brotherhood would take control of the largely secular state, although the movement, banned under Mubarak, played a low-key role in the protests that overthrew him.

The army generals who took control from President Hosni Mubarak in February have set parliamentary elections in Egypt for September and announced that presidential elections could be held by the end of 2011.

The Freedom and Justice party plans to take part in parliamentary elections and hopes to win around half of the seats.

The movement was founded in 1928 by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna. It was banned in 1954 but retained a large following.

MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti)

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20110511/163971313.html.

Brotherhood starts registration process for political party

Mohamed Abdel Kadir
Hany ElWaziry
Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil
Tue, 10/05/2011

The Muslim Brotherhood group on Tuesday started official procedures for the establishment of its new Freedom and Justice political party.

The group is filling in the application form to submit it to the Party Affairs Committee.

“The application will show the signatures of 9000 founders,” said Ahmed Abu Baraka, a co-founder. “And we will submit it by Wednesday at the latest.”

“Attached to the application is the party’s platform document,” explained Abdel Moneim Maqsoud, lawyer for the group.

Mohsen Rady, a leading figure in the group, said 15 percent of the party's founders are not members of the group. “Among them is the prominent Coptic thinker Rafiq Habib.”

Sources within the group said Habib is nominated to be the assistant party president for foreign affairs, which is in accordance with an early statement by President Mohamed Morsi, in which he announced that he would appoint a Copt to assist him.

“It is premature to talk about that,” said Habib, however.

The minimum number of co-founders stipulated by the committee is 5000.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/432039.

Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Asks Assad to Stop Violence in Syria

By Nayla Razzouk - Apr 27, 2011

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop using force against protesters and to listen to their pro-democracy demands.

“We strongly condemn the use of violence that has left hundreds of martyrs and injured people among the heroic Syrian protesters,” it said in a statement posted on its website. “We ask the Syrian president to respond to the demands of the people for real and serious political reform.” The Syrian regime should “stop monopolizing power in the hand of a single party and one group and move toward a multiparty political system.”

Syria’s government has deployed tanks in cities where rallies have continued to take place and clashes have left hundreds of people dead and scores detained, according to rights groups including Human Rights Watch.

The regime has accused “terrorist gangs,” Islamists and foreign forces that it didn’t identify of seeking to destabilize the rule of the secular Baath party. Government officials and the state-run media say Syria has been targeted because of its anti-Israel stand.

Syrian officials have accused local “armed gangs” of receiving foreign weapons and money from places such as near the flash-point southern city of Daraa, close to the Jordanian border. While Jordanian officials said yesterday that Syria had shut their common border crossings, the Syrian government and foreign reporters on the Jordanian side said the crossings were open, though vehicles rarely venture into the area.

In 1982, Assad’s father, then-President Hafez al-Assad, crushed a rebellion led by Sunni Muslim militants in the city of Hama, killing as many as 10,000 people, according to estimates cited by Human Rights Watch. The current outbreak of unrest is the most serious since then.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/jordan-s-muslim-brotherhood-asks-assad-to-stop-violence-in-syria.html.