Muslim Brotherhood membership an indicator of extremism: British government

London: A British government review into Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood published on Thursday concluded that membership of or links to the political group should be considered a possible indicator of extremism but that it should not be banned.

The long-delayed review into the organisation was first commissioned in April 2014 by Prime Minister David Cameron with a remit to examine whether the group put British national security at risk.

“Parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. Both as an ideology and as a network it has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism,” Cameron said in a statement.

He described the group as “deliberately opaque, and habitually secretive”.

“The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism,” he said.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi launched the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt’s modern history after toppling President Mohammad Mursi of the Brotherhood in 2013.

Al Sissi classifies the Brotherhood as a terrorist group, but on a visit to Britain in November he said it could again play a role in public life if Egyptians wanted it to return.

The Brotherhood, the Middle East’s oldest Islamist movement and long Egypt’s main political opposition, criticised the review as being unacceptable and politically motivated.

The group, which says it is committed to peaceful activism, said the British position suggested it backed the military’s overthrow of Mursi who was democratically elected president after the 2011 uprising.

“If Britain sees that peaceful protests and activities that reject the military coup, the killing of civilians and the detentions and disappearances as extremist then certainly Britain has a defect it needs to remedy,” the Brotherhood said in a statement.

Last year, Cameron ordered Britain’s intelligence agencies to investigate the philosophy and activities of the Islamist group, amid reports the Brotherhood was using London as a base to plan militant activities after a crackdown in Egypt.

The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful charitable and political organisation, but opponents accuse it of orchestrating attacks on Egyptian police and military targets. It is considered a terrorist organisation by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

The British review concluded that the Brotherhood’s form of political Islam is primarily “a political project,” but that a minority of its supporters in Egypt “have engaged alongside other Islamists in violent acts.”

“Individuals closely associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK have supported suicide bombing and other attacks in Israel by Hamas,” the review said.

Cameron said Muslim Brotherhood-associated and influenced groups had sometimes characterised Britain as fundamentally hostile to Muslim faith and identity and expressed support for attacks conducted by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

“Aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and activities therefore run counter to British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,” he said.

Cameron said the government would keep under review the views and activities of Muslim Brotherhood associates in Britain and whether the group met the legal test for proscription as a terrorist organisation.

Britain will also continue to refuse visas to members and associates the group who have made extremist comments, he said, and intensify its scrutiny of the views and activities Muslim Brotherhood members, associates and affiliates promote overseas.

Findings of the review of the Muslim Brotherhood commissioned by British Prime Minister David Cameron, as they were laid out by the prime minister in a statement to the parliament on Thursday:

 Unification under a Caliphate:

The Brotherhood’s foundational texts call for the moral purification of individuals and Muslim societies and their eventual political unification in a Caliphate under Sharia law. It is primarily a political project.

Violence as rite of passage:

Parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism. Both as an ideology and as a network it has been a rite of passage for some individuals and groups who have gone on to engage in violence and terrorism.

No distance from terrorists’ ideologue

It has stated its opposition to Al Qaida but it has never credibly denounced the use made by terrorist organisations of the work of Sayyid Qutb, one of the Brotherhood’s most prominent ideologues.

Support Hamas

Individuals closely associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK have supported suicide bombing and other attacks in Israel by Hamas, an organisation whose military wing has been proscribed in the UK since 2001 as a terrorist organisation

Supporters are violent

Despite the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s public condemnation of violence in 2012/13 and afterwards, some of their supporters have been involved in violent exchanges with the security forces and other groups.

Hostile to UK and the West

The Brotherhood characterises Western societies and liberal Muslims as decadent and immoral. Brotherhood members have sometimes characterised the UK as fundamentally hostile to Muslim faith and identity.

Linked to extremism

The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism.

Source: UK Parliament website