.Egyptian Islamist preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi called Tuesday on the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt to carry out comprehensive elections as fast as possible among the group members for the MB Shura Council and Guidance Bureau.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Qaradawi, who was sentenced to death by a criminal court May 16 over prison break charges committed in 2011, called the MB disputed parties to reunite to “promote the group members’ confidence…and activate its performance.”
He added that a number of meetings were held among group members to reach a solution of the “state of division” the group faces.
In early December, a group of members chaired by Mahmoud Ezzat, the current charge d’affaires of MB Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, sacked other members who fled to Turkey and dissolved the London-based movement’s bureau. The Istanbul-based administrative bureau announced its rejection of Ezzat’s decisions.
Egypt banned the MB in December 2013 following continuous protests called for reinstatement of former president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the military following in July 2013, and the dispersal of pro-MB protests in Rabaa and Nahda squares in August of the same year.
Since then, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members were detained and others fled a crackdown in Egypt, heading to Turkey, London and other foreign countries.
