Latest in Tag: Muslim Brotherhood Highlight
Latest in Tag: Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood blasts mufti’s Jerusalem visit
By AP CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday denounced a rare visit to Jerusalem by the nation’s top Islamic theologian that broke with decades of opposition to traveling to areas under Israeli control. Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said his two-hour visit on Wednesday was a symbolic show of solidarity with the Palestinians’ claim to Israeli-held …
SCAF won’t cede power; Mubarak’s regime still in place, says Al-Shater
By Safaa Abdoun CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood leading figure Khairat Al-Shater slammed Wednesday the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), saying it won’t cede power and that Mubarak’s regime is still in place. Al-Shater, the MB’s primary presidential candidate, was disqualified from the race because of a past criminal conviction. Like many other Brotherhood leaders, …
Suleiman wants balancing role as president
By Marwa Awad and Dina Zayed / Reuters CAIRO: Omar Suleiman, the former spy chief now trying to run for the Egyptian presidency, says he wants the job to stop it going to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood – but sees the Brotherhood playing a vital role in Egyptian politics. A powerful but shadowy figure during …
Egypt’s self-counter-revolution
By Khalil al-Anani DURHAM: When I left Egypt two weeks before the revolution, Egyptians were not allowed to discuss three issues publicly: politics, religion and sex. However, after two weeks in post-Jan. 25 Cairo, I realized that these taboos have become obsolete. A sense of unfettered freedom is inescapable, albeit in a chaotic pattern. Apart from …
Analysis: Egypt in tough final leg of transition
By Tom Perry / Reuters CAIRO: The final leg of Egypt’s transition from military to civilian rule has turned into a bitter power struggle that is feeding a sense of crisis and confusion among Egyptians, who fear their democratic dawn could be at risk. Just weeks before a presidential election in May, divisions are hardening in …
Analysis: Egypt’s Brotherhood raises stakes by excluding IMF
By Patrick Werr /Reuters CAIRO: In all but ruling out an early agreement on an IMF loan, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has dramatically raised the stakes in its struggle with the army-led administration for control of a country still reeling from a year of political turmoil. The Brotherhood’s candidate for president, Khairat Al-Shater, said this week the …
Al-Shater’s economic policies may attract US support, say experts
By Omnia Al Desoukie CAIRO: While it remains unclear how well last minute contenders Omar Suleiman and Khairat Al-Shater will do in the presidential election, experts argue that the US is leaning towards the latter for his economic policies. In post-Mubarak Egypt, the US administration was forced to engage in dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood which …
MB criticizes court’s ruling against Constituent Assembly formation
By Heba Hesham CAIRO: The Administrative Court of the State Council issued a ruling Tuesday invalidating parliament’s decision regarding the makeup of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting Egypt’s new constitution. The court accepted the case filed by a number of legal experts and public figures against PA Speaker, as well as halting the implementation of …
Brotherhood holds Egyptian army to ransom on aid
By Una Galani / Reuters Breakingviews DUBAI: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is holding the army to ransom. The moderate Islamist movement, which won almost half the seats in recent parliamentary elections, says it won’t support a $3.2 billion aid deal with the International Monetary Fund. It has demanded new terms, or asked the army to step aside …
Egypt stocks drop to 8-week lows on funding fears
By Tom Pfeiffer and Patrick Werr / Reuters CAIRO: Egyptian stocks fell to eight-week lows on Monday after the Muslim Brotherhood challenged the government to change the terms of an emergency IMF loan, showing political powers remain far apart on how to stave off a payments crisis. Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Khairat El-Shater said he had …
Islamists, remnants of ex-regime make last-minute presidential bid
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Islamists and remnants of the former regime (commonly known as felool) rushed to register their candidacy for Egypt’s first post-Mubarak presidential election. Registration for the presidential election began April 8 and closed Sunday at 2 pm as frontrunners faced with uncertainties regarding their applications due to legal challenges. The committee supervising …
Egypt’s Brotherhood picks alternate candidate
By Aya Batrawy  / Associated Press CAIRO: Egypt’s most powerful political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, announced Saturday it is nominating the head of its party as a back-up candidate for president in the face of attempts to disqualify their primary nominee. The decision to put forth a second candidate was spurred by fears that the ruling …
Former MB youth leaders slam nomination of Al-Shater, support Abol Fotoh
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Former young leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) criticized the group’s decision to nominate former deputy supreme guide Khairat Al-Shater for president, announcing their support to one of his prominent rivals, Abdel Moneim Abol Fotoh, also a former Brotherhood leader. Mohamed El-Qassas, sacked leader of the MB youth and leading member of …
Brotherhood hopeful promises clerics a role
By Maggie Michael / AP CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for Egypt’s presidency is lobbying hard for support of ultraconservative Muslim clerics, promising them a say over legislation in the future to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, as he tries to rally the divided Islamist vote behind him. The campaign dealmaking is a …
Mr Successful and SCAF
By Omar El Sabh CAIRO: Once more the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau has presented Egyptian politics with a black box by fielding their business tycoon Khairat Al Shater in the presidential race. This move comes at a time when the political landscape has witnessed heavy jostling between the country’s two strongest camps, SCAF and the MB. …
Muslim Brotherhood launches US diplomatic push
By Andrew Quinn / Reuters WASHINGTON: With PowerPoint presentations and political promises, Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood made its US diplomatic debut this week hoping to persuade Washington that the Islamist group is committed to democracy and rule of law. A delegation from the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the once-banned Islamist movement, …
US will hold Egypt politicians ‘accountable’, says Clinton
By Agencies ISTANBUL: Washington will monitor actions by Egyptian politicians and hold them “accountable,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday, after the Muslim Brotherhood entered Egypt’s presidential fray. “We’re going to watch what the political actors in Egypt do. We’re going to watch their commitment to the rights and the dignity of …
In the name of God
By Rania Al Malky CAIRO: The future of Egypt is on the brink of an Islamist abyss. The Freedom and Justice Party’s tattered poker-faced mask has finally fallen, revealing the bloody fangs of a power hungry vampire, intent on destroying anything that stands between it and its evil, Quran-wielding project to turn Egypt into medieval Afghanistan. …
Army takes on Islamists to retain power
By Marwa Awad / Reuters CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood is locked in a power struggle with ruling generals over how much influence the army will have after civilians take over in three months time, a dispute that could decide whether democracy thrives after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. The tussle is over a new constitution, being drafted by …
Brotherhood conflicted over presidential run
By Maggie Michael  / AP CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has postponed an open confrontation with the country’s military rulers and other political players by delaying a decision about whether to field a candidate for the first presidential elections since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. An eight-hour meeting Tuesday of the Brotherhood’s highest leadership body failed to …
SCAF slams MB statement doubting the transparency of presidential election
By Safaa Abdoun CAIRO: In a statement read on state TV Sunday afternoon, Field Marshal Tantawi said that doubting the transparency of the upcoming presidential election and the constitutional referendum is “slander” and has nothing to do with reality. “We were careful not to be provoked, but what happened recently is enough,” he said, referring to …
Islamists warn military over government backing
By AFP CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood warned the ruling military Saturday over its backing of the current government, which it accuses of stalling the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak and saw Islamists dominate parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, has been pressuring the military to sack the cabinet and appoint …
Muslim Brotherhood eyes end to Gaza blockade
By Tom Perry and Nidal Al-Mughrabi / Reuters CAIRO/GAZA: The Muslim Brotherhood aims to open the Egyptian border with Gaza to commerce, a shift that would transform life for Palestinians there but which is hitting resistance from Egyptian authorities reluctant to change a longstanding policy. The biggest party in Egypt’s new parliament, the Islamists are not …
Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood: Facing the bittersweet reality
By Alon Ben-Meir NEW YORK: Since the fall of the Mubarak regime, the conventional wisdom in Israel has suggested that the emergence of an Islamist government in Egypt would necessarily be hostile to the Jewish state. Egypt’s parliamentary elections, in which the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) won close to 50 percent of the vote, only reinforced this …
MB not ruling out nominating El-Shater for president
By Heba Fahmy CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood (MB) spokesperson Mahmoud Ghozlan could neither confirm nor deny whether the group will nominate one of its leaders, Khairat El-Shater, in the upcoming presidential election. “This decision is up to the group’s Shoura Council, which will make the announcement soon,” Ghozlan told Daily News Egypt on Monday. Ever since the …
INTERVIEW: Brotherhood takes softer line on Egypt gov’t
By Tom Perry and Edmund Blair / Reuters CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday it recognized its demand to sack Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzoury’s cabinet is unlikely to be heeded by the ruling generals but that it did not want a standoff with the army, toning down tough talk by some of its MPs. The …
Muslim Brotherhood leaning toward IMF loan
By Patrick Werr and Marwa Awad / Reuters CAIRO: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing supports Egypt’s request for an IMF loan, but first it wants the government to produce a coherent plan to battle corruption and get costs under control, its economic policymakers say. The government said earlier this year it had formally requested a …
Why Egypt needs a coalition government
By Mustafa Abdelhalim CAIRO: Recently, Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt have repeatedly made calls for a new coalition government, which would represent all parties in parliament. Can Egypt benefit by adopting the concept of coalition rule? The answer, I believe, is yes. Building a coalition simply means inviting parties who would be in opposition to each …
INTERVIEW: Brotherhood ideas questioned by founder’s brother
By Shaimaa Fayed / Reuters CAIRO: Gamal Al-Banna’s vision for Egypt would have set him at odds with his elder brother Hassan, the teacher who founded the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamist movement in 1928 and was assassinated in 1949. Gamal, Hassan’s last surviving sibling, argues that Egypt today would be best served by a secular …
ANALYSIS: As government-in-waiting, Brotherhood finds voice
By Tom Perry and Edmund Blair / Reuters CAIRO: At the end of January, a guest speaker drew an unusually large audience of diplomats to the 33rd floor auditorium at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Cairo. For latecomers, there was standing room only. What made the event unique wasn’t the turnout, but the speaker: Mohamed …