Salaam David Cameron orders inquiry into activities of Muslim Brotherhood
Review to look into party's alleged links to extremism amid speculation group could be banned in Britain[SIZE=14px]
David Cameron has ordered Whitehall officials to launch an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood – drawing on assessments by MI5 and MI6.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
A Downing Street source confirmed that the review would examine allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the murder of three tourists on a bus in Egypt in February and that it planned extremist activities from Britain.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The source said: "The prime minister has ordered a review to get a better understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood and its values – and look into its alleged links to extremism."[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The No 10 source confirmed a report in the Times that the investigation is being launched as the prime minister faces pressure to follow the example of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which claim that the Muslim Brotherhood uses London as a crucial centre for its activities, to ban the group.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The Times reported that MI6, Britain's overseas intelligence agency, would examine claims that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the bus attack in Egypt. MI5 will assess how many leaders have been based in Britain after last year's coup in Egypt in which Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president, was ousted.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the head of the Egyptian armed forces who played a leading role in the overthrow of Morsi last year, has placed the former president on jail where he awaits trial for treason. Morsi was the candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party for the 2012 presidential elections in Egypt.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
Cameron ordered the investigation after it was concluded that Whitehall has insufficient intelligence about the Muslim Brotherhood's activities in Britain and in Egypt. Downing Street has asked Sir John Jenkins, the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia to draw up a report on the Muslim Brotherhood's "philosophy and values and alleged connections with extremism and violence".[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
Sir Kim Darroch, the prime minister's national security adviser, has already started work. A key role will be played by Sir John Sawers, the current chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), who served as UK ambassador to Egypt between 2001-03. Sawers, who had previously served as Tony Blair's foreign affairs adviser in Downing Street, had strong contacts with the regime of the former president Hosni Mubarak.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded in Egypt in 1928, was branded a terrorist group by the Egyptian authorities last year. It had been banned during most of the latter part of the 20th century up until the Arab spring which saw the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak as Egyptian president.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
British officials are saying it is "possible but unlikely" that the Muslim Brotherhood will be banned in Britain on the grounds of terrorist links. Foreign Office officials figures have until now resisted proscribing the organisation on the grounds that that could encourage extremists. "The truth is that this is a large, disparate organisation that takes different forms in different countries," an official told the paper.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
The security services are said to take a more hardline view. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, has reportedly described the Muslim Brotherhood as "at heart a terrorist organisation".[/SIZE] [SIZE=14px]
A Downing Street spokesman told the Times: "The Muslim Brotherhood has risen in prominence in recent years but our understanding of the organisation, its philosophy and values, has not kept pace with this. Given the concerns about the group and its alleged links to violent extremism, it's absolutely right and prudent that we get a better handle of what the Brotherhood stands for, how they intend to achieve their aims and what that means for Britain."[/SIZE]
MashaAllah, may his learning help guide him to understand Islam better and consider that it is the path of truth, and that it will save the nation from it's slow descent into corruption and wickedness, heal the hearts of the people and make them of the upright and virtuous.
[SIZE=14px]David Cameron's Muslim Brotherhood inquiry could well backfire[/SIZE][SIZE=14px]If the investigation leads to a ban it may appease the Saudis, but it would also alienate the millions who never espoused violence[/SIZE]
David Cameron will come to regret his call for an investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood. The move is opportunistic and set to backfire on him. The impetus reportedly came from British intelligence, not from the Foreign Office, where there is greater awareness of the dangers of alienating the rank and file of an Islamist movement hitherto identified as relatively moderate and nonviolent.
The choice of the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, to head the investigation raises questions about the role of the Saudis in influencing Cameron's calculations. For the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood represents their most potent rival for influence among Sunni Muslims across the region. Even though Riyadh backs the forces seeking to oust the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, it does not want Brotherhood sympathisers to replace him.
Cameron himself used to be a champion of the Syrian opposition, before being obliged to recognise that the so-called moderate opposition forces in Syria are incapable of triumphing over both Assad and more extremist opposition forces. It will not sort out the Syrian tragedy to join the Saudis in demonising the Muslim Brotherhood.
It may, however, go a little way toward placating the Saudis, who have made no secret of their anger at their western allies for going soft on Assad over the chemical weapons issue and simultaneously engaging Iran, the biggest regional rival to the Saudis, in a dialogue about their nuclear programme.
As announced, the investigation of the Brotherhood will analyse Egyptian government claims that the movement was responsible for an attack on tourists travelling on a bus in Egypt in February. No doubt Egyptian intelligence will supply their British counterparts, including the head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, a former ambassador to Cairo, with their insights on the matter. And with our man in Riyadh to head it, the investigation will no doubt be well informed by Saudi sources too. Who will put the case for the Brotherhood is not clear.
The investigation is also charged with identifying the values and philosophy of the movement – not necessarily with a view to adding the Brotherhood to the list of terrorist organisations proscribed by the government, we are told – but to better understand "what we are dealing with". From whom will the inquiry hear on this matter? There are plenty of British citizens who could describe the beliefs and aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood, but they will not want to implicate themselves.
The criteria by which an organisation can be proscribed, according to the Terrorism Act 2000, focus on involvement in acts of terrorism, but also consider "the nature and scale of an organisation's activities"; "the specific threat that it poses to the UK"; and "the need to support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism".
Between them the Saudis and Egyptians could no doubt supply a compelling case against the Brotherhood on all counts. However, the government would be most unwise to concede to their arguments without considering the broader picture.
The Brotherhood is a very substantial movement, with millions of followers not only in Egypt, where it was founded nearly a century ago, but across the Middle East and beyond. Its strength was manifest in its capacity to win political power, including the Egyptian presidency, following the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
For years the Foreign Office has run a number of initiatives to encourage political reform in Egypt, inclusive of recognising the full spectrum of public opinion. When the revolution happened in 2011, there was no British effort to defend Mubarak. On the contrary, British policy was to accommodate to the new order.
As it transpired the army not only allowed Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi to become president in Egypt but also orchestrated his removal. Now the gloves are off and the Brotherhood has been outlawed, its members imprisoned and many sentenced to death. In the circumstances it should be no surprise that some have sought refuge abroad, including in Britain.
If some of those exiles are plotting revenge or how to make a comeback in Egypt down the line, that should not be a surprise either. However, surely British anti-terrorism laws are sufficient to deal with any specific cases. And why instigate an inquiry into the values and philosophy of the movement writ large?
The prime minister has created a trap for himself. If his investigation finds grounds to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood it will alienate millions who never espoused violence in the first place. If it concludes that the Brotherhood's values and philosophy are not a problem, the Saudis will no longer be appeased, and the whole exercise will look like a farce.
I thought the Muslim Brotherhood was a peaceful offshoot of Al Qaeda? They try to get on with the Zionists while Al Qaeda does not.
There's no connection between Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. Their ideology and methodology of Islam (Manhaj) are different and even contradict each other.
format_quote Originally Posted by ardianto;n2230948
There's no connection between Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda. Their ideology and methodology of Islam (Manhaj) are different and even contradict each other.
Hmmm Al Qaeda seem to use Jewish philosophy of "fight fire with fire" etc. Like the Zionists their enemies. But this vicious circle cannot end until the enemy has been obliterated, so the war never ends. Al Qaeda has no head to cut off and the Zionists profit from war and use Al Qaeda as a pretext to invade and conquer.
The Muslim brotherhood used watered down Sharia law to appease the Zionists. But it looks as if that is not good enough, they prefer secular military rule. It is too hard to control the religious.
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