Reaction in Cairo to news of the British government’s planned investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood was a mix of bemusement and concern.
In late December – four months after the bloody crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in which hundreds died – Egypt‘s military-led regime declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.
In recent weeks, the Egyptian state and judiciary have signalled that their pursuit of suspected supporters and members of the outlawed brotherhood was continuing.
In late March, a judge in the Egyptian city of Minya sentenced 529 alleged supporters to death for the killing of a policeman. On Sunday, a court in the coastal city of Alexandria sentenced two brotherhood supporters to death after finding them guilty of the murder of two people during the riots that followed Morsi’s overthrow.
HA Hellyer, an Egypt analyst for the Royal United Services Institute, a foreign affairs thinktank, said he was puzzled by the British government’s investigation. “The review runs the risk of indirectly associating community organisations in the UK, which have engaged with many sectors in Britain quite openly for years, with terrorism because of their links to the brotherhood.”
The Times reported that MI6, Britain’s overseas intelligence agency, would examine claims that the brotherhood was behind the 16 February attack on a tourist bus in the Egyptian Sinai town of Taba, which killed three South Korean tourists.
“If the review seeks to verify a link between this particular Islamist organisation and the terrorist bombing in Taba, then it will need to have evidence that even the Egyptian government has not claimed ownership of,” Heller said.
Hoda Abdel Moniem, women’s secretary in the Freedom and Justice party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, offered a spirited defence of its supporters living in other parts of the world. “I want to tell you that the brotherhood, for a long time, in many countries around the world, has been living without making any problems,” she said.
“They are people who believe in hard work and who love their countries. They have always been peaceful, religious, and condemn violence. There is no country where they are based where you can find complaints about them.”
She dismissed claims that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was involved in terrorism. “As a member I see that this is just talk, all these accusations. There is not even one single piece of evidence that any member of the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist. The reason for this talking first and last is to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the political scene.”
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said it backed the investigation. “We welcome this step by the British authorities and of course we hope that the authorities will take seriously this matter,” he said on Tuesday.
When asked to clarify which matter he was referring to, he replied: “In light of the decision of the government of Egypt to find this group [the Muslim Brotherhood] and their organisation to be a terrorist organisation.”
Abdelatty had no comment on reports that the British government had drawn links between the brotherhood and the attack in Taba.