Washington: Brotherhood is not a terrorist group

The White House turned down a petition filed a year ago that demands the US administration to brand the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
 
“We have not seen credible evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood has renounced its decades-long commitment to nonviolence,” read the response on the White Houses petitions section “We the People.” The petition advocating the terrorist brand had garnered 213,146 signatures.
 
Egypt branded the Brotherhood a terrorist group in December 2013, following the bombing of the Mansoura directorate. Despite the group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a group that is not affiliated to the Brotherhood, claiming responsibility for the event, the government publicly blamed the Brotherhood for the attack. Meanwhile, government did not produce any credible evidence linking the Brotherhood to the attack.
 
The United States and its long-time strategic Arab ally suffered heavy tensions when US officials clung to the Muslim Brotherhood as the legitimate democratically-elected leaders of the country, despite many moves by President Mohamed Morsy to consolidate power.
 
Despite US officials urging dialogue with the Brotherhood and , the Egyptian army swept in, backed by popular protests, to oust Morsy on 3 July 2014. Though Washington refused to call the event a “coup,” it had exhibited hesitance to recognize the new regime.
 
Relations further soured after the new military-led regime spurned US-led reconciliation talks with the Brotherhood and surprised officials by dispersing of the pro-Morsy sit-ins in Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares, where at least 800 protesters are estimated to have been killed by the armed forces.
 
The US responded by suspending its annual US$1.3 billion military aid to Egypt, whose renewal is still currently under review by US Congress.