Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has distanced itself from an apology to the nation by one of its senior members.Salah Sultan wrote a controversial article for the website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in which he apologised to Egyptians for the group's "errors" during its tumultuous year in power.
The group should take responsibility for its mistakes and listen to criticisms from independent and revolutionary forces, as well as admit its failure to embrace young people and women, Sultan said.
The article was removed from the site shortly after publication.
Sultan's widely circulated article represented his "personal viewpoint" and "did not express the group's position," Brotherhood Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein El-Amin said on Thursday.
All political and national forces "make mistakes," El-Amin added, but it was not the right time for making "assessments."
Political and revolutionary forces should put their efforts into confronting the "bloody military coup which has dragged Egypt into turmoil," and press ahead with a "peaceful fight" to restore the country's legitimate authorities.
Most Islamists deem the military's overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, a "coup" against "legitimacy," and reject the interim government's transition roadmap.
Since Morsi's departure, a wave of detentions has netted the Brotherhood's senior leaders and hundreds of other Islamists for alleged crimes including murder. Morsi himself has been held incommunicado since his ouster on 3 July.
