Nader Bakkar, spokesman for the ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party, condemned Thursday recent statements by Wasat Party leader Abul-Ela Madi against Egypt’s intelligence apparatus.
Madi asserted Tuesday that parts of Egypt’s intelligence apparatus were employing tactics aimed at destabilising the administration of President Mohamed Morsi.
Bakkar deemed Madi’s statements a threat to the stability of the county.
“Relying on media leaks and unconfirmed information would further fuel mistrust between the authority and all concerned parties," he said.
“The Egyptian intelligence is a patriotic apparatus that we hold in great respect,” Bakkar asserted in a statement Thursday. He went on to add that no one is entitled to slander the Egyptian intelligence apparatus without evidence.
On Tuesday, Madi claimed at a Wasat Party meeting that according to information received from President Morsi, Egypt's General Intelligence apparatus had established, during the Mubarak era, a secret group of 300,000 paid thugs. He went on to assert that these thugs had appeared during recent political violence.
On Wednesday, the Wasat Party said that Madi's statements had been taken out of context. A party statement clarified that Madi had meant that the ousted regime was still using sectors of the state apparatus against its opponents.
Al-Wasat Party is a moderate offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamist group from which Morsi hails.
