A leading member of the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Wasat Party has proposed an initiative to end Egypt's ongoing political crisis in which detained supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi would be released in exchange for an immediate halt in street protests.
In an interview Tuesday with private TV channel Al-Hayat, Tarek El-Malt said that ending the street protests would also depend on the return of banned pro-Brotherhood TV channels and the transparent announcement of the findings of a committee tasked with investigating the violence and killings in Egypt since the 2011 uprising.
However, El-Malt's proposal was rejected by the Wasat Party, which released a statement on Wednesday saying that El-Malt's plan didn't reflect the party's views.
The Wasat Party is a member of the pro-Morsi coalition the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), which has protested against Egypt's interim authorities since Morsi's ouster in July.
In Tuesday's interview, El-Malt said that his initiative had been based on a similar proposal by political scientist and veteran pro-democracy activist Hassan Nafaa.
Last October, Nafaa sent a proposal to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) detailing how the government could broker a truce with the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies and put a stop to the political violence gripping the country.
His idea was that the group would be offered immunity against "continued persecution" along with the release of its top leadership and some of its members. In return, the Brotherhood would be allowed to take part in upcoming parliamentary elections, as long as there was international monitoring.
The interim authorities, however, ignored Nafaa's proposal.
The Wasat Party statement rejecting El-Malt's proposal said that the party hasn't changed its stance regarding Egypt's interim authorities and that El-Malt's opinions belong to only him as an individual.
The NASL – and thus the Wasat Party – has repeatedly refused to recognise the post-Morsi roadmap and has insisted on the reinstatement of the 2012 constitution.
Earlier this week, the NASL called for a new wave of protests to start on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the 19 March 2011 national referendum, which the Brotherhood supported at the time. The coalition said the new "revolutionary wave" would last for 11 days and demand the "return of constitutional legitimacy" as well as the ideals of the 2011 revolution such as freedom and social justice.
Thousands of Morsi supporters have been arrested and hundreds killed by security forces following the ouster of the Islamist president.
Top Brotherhood figures and members as well as scores of Islamists face various charges, including the incitement of violence against their political opponents.
Several Islamist satellite channels were also shut down after Morsi's ouster for allegedly inciting violence.
