A number of Egyptian MPs told reporters Monday that several parliamentary committees are currently finalising a report on the "crimes of the Muslim Brotherhood" to be submitted to US Congressmen and officials next week.
The report will be presented by an Egyptian delegation arriving in Washington 21 January – one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States.
The 15-member delegation includes MPs from the foreign relations committee and representatives from civil society organisations.
Tarek Hassanein Ramadan, an MP from Giza governorate, said "the report will come at a very important time."
"There will be a new US president who is highly hostile to all political Islam movements, and at the same time a number of republican Congress members aiming to legislate designating the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation," said Hassanein.
Abdel-Reheim Ali, an independent MP, also said in a statement that "the dossier which is being prepared by Egypt's parliament on the 'Muslim Brotherhood's crimes' comes at the right time."
"I think the Egyptian delegation which will visit America next week should meet with Senator - and former US presidential candidate - Ted Cruz and other republican congress members who approve legislation to list the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation," said Ali, adding that "when the delegation submits a complete dossier supported by documents and videotapes on the Brotherhood this will be key to pushing the Cruz legislation forward."
Tarek El-Khouli, deputy chairman of the foreign relations committee and a member of the delegation, confirmed that a report is already being prepared by the committee to document the Brotherhood's crimes.
"While some MPs wanted this report to be prepared by committees on national security, defence, legislative affairs, human rights and foreign affairs, we see that there will be short time to do this," said El-Khouli, indicating that "two [separate] reports on political Islam by parliament's foreign affairs committee and the Egyptian Centre of Free Democracy Studies will be submitted to US Congress members and officials during the visit."
El-Khouli revealed that the report the delegation will present to US Congress members and Trump administration officials includes a dossier of documents and videotapes that leave no doubt about the Brotherhood's long record of terrorism and violence.
"We have videotapes which feature Brotherhood leaders calling for violence after 30 June 2013" El-Khouli said, referencing the mass protests that took place in Cairo one year after the inauguration of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi to protest his rule.
El-Khouli said the committee also had video footage showing Brotherhood leaders calling for "supporting the US-designated terrorist group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis in Sinai and its attacks against the Egyptian army."
The MP recalled that while an Egyptian parliamentary delegation was visiting New York last September, it received assurances from Trump's Middle East affairs advisor Walid Phares that if elected, Trump would do his best to list the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
"Now with the election of Donald Trump, who has selected a number of highly anti-radical Islam theorists [to serve] in his new administration, and with republicans in control of the Senate and the House, the proposed Cruz-drafted Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act has a good chance of passing and being signed into law," said El-Khouli.
El-Khouli also cited what he termed a positive development in Washington - something Rex Tillerson — Trump's pick for secretary of state — told the Senate Relations Committee last week.
Tillerson said "the US needs to be honest about political Islam and that the demise of ISIS will allow the US to increase its attention on other agents of radical Islam like Al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood."
"This is the first time a high-ranking US official has used such strong language against the Brotherhood and we must exploit this," El-Khouli.
El-Khouli also said the Egyptian delegation will be keen to stress that in addition to Egypt, three major Arab Muslim countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – in addition to Russia labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in 2014 and 2015.
Ali said "there is a strategic shift in the mentality of the US political leadership and it is very important to exploit this in our war against political Islam in general and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular.
