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Muslim Brotherhood Postpones Party Proclamation To Avoid Provoking Egyptian Government
CAIRO (IslamOnline) - The Muslim Brotherhood affirmed that it was ready to establish a political party if the Egyptian government agreed to its formation, though it showed willingness to postpone that step in order to avoid provoking the government.
Counselor Ma’moon Al Hudaibi, deputy guide general of the Muslim Brotherhood and spokesman for the organization, affirmed that the group was ready to form a political party that would operate within an Egyptian partisan system.
However, as the establishment of such a party was subject to presidential approval, the Brotherhood stated it would do nothing that might provoke or lead to a confrontation with the ruling regime.
Counselor Al Hudaibi said, “The Muslim Brotherhood has presented its program on the political scene more than once, and it can present it again in the media, but the organization would not take a step that may provoke the regime or lead to a confrontation with it, particularly as the current laws make the existence of any party subject to presidential approval.
“Therefore, we keep a close eye on the State to see how it reacts in this respect. We hope that it will give this proposal careful consideration within the context of political multiplicity that Egypt enjoys at present.”
“The notion of allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to have its own party has been proposed before, and strongly so. It has been discussed in Egyptian, Arab and international media,” Al Hudaibi continued, describing the discussion of the issue by Islamist Mohammad Emara and secularist Al-Sayed Yassin on the television program “Chief Editor,” broadcast by Egyptian television on Monday, as evidence of the Brotherhood’s actual presence in the political arena.
“The sheer mention of the Muslim Brotherhood’s name by officials, even when made in a negative manner, as in the statements of the Minister of Interior,” the deputy guide general continued, “is an explicit confirmation that a decision should be made on this issue after very careful consideration, so as to contain a large number of the Egyptians who demonstrated their will in the elections by selecting 17 Brotherhood candidates to represent them in the Egyptian Parliament.”
In addition to party formation statements, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Amnesty International, denounced sentences passed by an Egyptian military court against 15 Brotherhood leaders, to terms ranging between 3 to 5 years.
The Brotherhood had issued a communiqué denouncing the court sentences, describing them as unjust. Amnesty International also denounced the sentences.
Amnesty said in a statement that the 15 Islamists whom the military court had sent to jail were prisoners of opinion. It urged the Egyptian government to immediately and unconditionally release them.
In its statement, Amnesty implored Egyptian authorities to put an end to the trial of civilians by military courts, as such procedures violated some essential requirements of international law.
The military court had charged the fifteen defendants - all members of boards of directors’ of professional syndicates - with belonging to a tabooed organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, who planned to run in elections for membership in the People’s Assembly and professional syndicates.
Rulings of military courts cannot be appealed. Only the Egyptian President can approve or disapprove decisions of military courts, or instruct the courts to retry cases in question.
In a related development, students of the University of Menoufiya, north of Cairo, demonstrated Wednesday in protest against sentences pronounced against one of their professors, Mohammad Ali Bishr, a professor of engineering at the university and secretary general of the Engineers Syndicate.
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