“If the British government claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization, the crackdown on MB members in Egypt could be eased,” MB lawyer Mohamed al-Damatti told The Cairo Post Monday morning.
The U.K. government plans to release its report on the government review into Muslim Brotherhood activities in Britain Monday. The Independent reported that the report concludes that the MB should not be labeled “terrorist organization.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered in April 2014 a probe into MB activities in London over “its inciting terrorism in Egypt.” The probe was conducted by the U.K. ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir John Jenkins.
Damatti added in his phone call remarks to The Cairo Post that announcing that the MB is not a “terrorist group” in the report, could “mute the voices against the group in Egypt and will have a postive impact on the MB members and supporters.”
He predicted that the report would have a political impact on talks on the reconciliations among all factions in the Egyptian Politics. He noted that there are international and regional pressures to reach such reconciliation.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have all labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist group and have called for the U.K. government to ban the group, which is has found regional support from Qatar and Turkey.
“In case that the British government claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, it would cause it embarrassment,” Damatti added.
Three days ago MB member and former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s former Minister of Investment Mohamed Yahaia told BBC “From the Muslim Brotherhood’s perspective, we won’t stop, or allow our reputation to be defamed.”
In October the ITN Solicitors announced that MB lawyers were informed that the review clears the group from links to terrorism.
The report was scheduled to be released several months ago. However, the U.K. government delayed its publication several times.
In Egypt, The Court of the Urgent Matters banned the MB activities and the former interim cabinet labeled the MB terrorist group in December 2013. However, the State Council appealed against the court ruling saying the Urgent Matters is not authorized to consider such cases. A ban dissolving the group also passed in 2013 authorizes the government to seize the assets of the Brotherhood and arrest its members.
After Morsi’s ouster, Egypt’s government launched a crackdown on the MB members and supporters; hundreds were detained, other escaped to Turkey, Qatar, London and others.
Also, since the ouster and the dispersal of the pro-MB sit-ins at Rabaa al-Adaweya in August 2013, numerous attacks and explosion have taken place against the military and society personnel in Cairo, Giza, and other governorates.
