Saturday, December 19, 2015

And UK reviewed the Muslim Brotherhood

On Thursday, the British government released its final review about the Muslim Brotherhood and its connections to terrorism in London creating a buzz in Cairo.
The review concluded that that the membership of , association with, or influence by the 73 years old Islamist Political group should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism.
Egypt_Cameron_pres_3493126b
El-Sisi and Cameron in London in November "EPA" 
The review did not conclude that the group was a terrorist group that should be banned as Cairo and other capitals in the Middle East hoped not-so-surprisingly.
The review also concluded that the British govenrment would “intensify scrutiny of the views and activists of the Muslim Brotherhood , associates and afilitates whether based in the UK or elsewhere promote overseas.”
PM David Cameron issued a statement regarding the review he commissioned in 2014 where he announced the following regarding the MB :
The visas will be denied to the Members and associates of the Brotherhood with radical viewls.
The chairties linked to the Brotherhood will be monitored to see what they finance.
To enforce the EU asset freeze on Hamas.
In nutshell, the Brotherhood and its affiliated groups and organizations will be monitored officially closely. Already I am not surprised because this is expected with what is going with Islamist movements in Europe.

Nevertheless, this is not a new thing when it comes to the MB because I remember that following 9/11, the MB faced the same procedures not only in UK, but also in the United States and across the Europe. The ban of asset freeze on Hamas is not something new.
Personally, I found that the review came to please everybody as it won’t recommend banning the MB but on the same way it says that some members or links of the group can lead to extremism.
The Egyptian government treats the review as if it declared the MB as a terrorist organization which actually is untrue.

I do not know how for real this report is regarded as an important step in combating terrorism for real on the ground.
On the other side of the coin, the Muslim Brotherhood decided to challenge that review in Court in the UK, attacking PM David Cameron saying that they do not accept the findings of that report nor his statement.

Muslim Brotherhood to challenge “Deeply flawed” review in High CourtPress Statement Date: 17 December 2015Release:...

Posted by Amr Darrag on Thursday, December 17, 2015
The MB called itself as the “Biggest democratic group in the Middle East” in that statement and honestly I do not know when they become so.
After all, this organization is based on obedience among its memebrs. Anyhow the Brotherhood claims to be democratic in the same way the Egyptian regime does, it is like the other side of the coin !!
The MB also commissioned London-based-lawyer Tayab Ali of ITN Solicitors to represent the group against the British government in court.
Ali is already handling the MB’s cases against the Egyptian regime in the UK.
Now since the announcement of that review in 2014, the MB was against the review expressing doubt about the bias of Sir Jon Jenkins, the head of committee commission to do the review as well the former UK ambassador in Saudi Arabia.
The MB also accused in their angry statement the British government of issuing that review with that conclusion because they were pressed by those “undemocratic regimes in the Middle East” and the banned group in Egypt did not mean El-Sisi’s regime actually.
It meant UAE in particiular if I am not mistaken as the Guardian published an exclusive report in November about how the UAE used a BAE wepoans’ deal to pressure the UK to crackdown the Brotherhood.
Ironically, the review comes in a time when there is currently a very ugly and bad fight between the Cairo MB young members and the MB London office reaching to the level of accusing the MB in London of being traitors and agents to the MI5.
The fight reached the level of having two official spokespersons representing the Brotherhood in the media and local administrative offices in several governorates in Egypt disobeying the orders of the deputy guide
I do not know if the UK review will make them stop fighting

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