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 ext
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,” Mr Cameron said in a statement.
“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 Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt’s modern history after toppling President Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood in 2013.
The Brotherhood, the Middle East’s oldest Islamist movement and long Egypt’s main political Opposition, says it is committed to peaceful activism designed to reverse what it calls a military coup in 2013.
“If Britain sees peaceful protests and activities that reject the military coup and the killing of civilians as extremist then certainly Britain has a defect it needs to remedy,” it said.
