Muslim Brotherhood sets up shop in London Egypts largest opposition movement has placed its media headquarters in one of Londons suburbs. The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest and oldest religious organisation in Egypt, has survived multiple periods of repression. But according to recent reports, it has now regrouped at an unlikely location: An office above the Flame Kebab takeaway shop on Cricklewood Broadway, a high street in an unfashionable north-west London suburb. This is the headquarters of World Media Services, a company that publishes IkhwaanPress (Brotherhood Press) - an Arabic language website sympathetic to the Brotherhood. Mohamed Soudan is one of the senior members of the Brotherhood that fled to Britain after its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, was ousted in July. There is no stability now in Egypt, says Soudan, who served as foreign relations secretary under deposed president Mohamed Morsi. The authorities have accused all members of the Muslim Brotherhood - and anyone else that opposes the government. Egypts military-led interim government is engaged in a brutal crackdown on dissent. The Brotherhood has been hit particularly hard, with up to 20,000 supporters currently imprisoned and 1,000 killed. Last month, a court sentenced 529 Brotherhood supporters to death in an unprecedented mass trial. In December, the Egyptian government designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organization; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recently followed suit. Against this backdrop, it should be little surprise that some members of the movement, like Soudan, have sought refuge abroad. But the activities of the group have caused concern in Britain. The prime minister has commissioned an internal government review into the philosophy and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and the governments policy towards the organisation, said Downing Street in a statement this week. British prime minister David Cameron said the inquiry would aim to discover any path of extremism and violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its presence is here in the United Kingdom and to fully understand the true nature of the organisation. When Al Jazeera contacted the Muslim Brotherhood in London, they said they are doing the best we can to support the people in Egypt, but London is not the centre of activity. The proprietor of World Media Services, 67-year-old British Egyptian Mohamed Ghanem, says that he and his staff are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood but are by no means the central command. The Brotherhood has a long history in Britain - decades not years, says Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. Waves of Islamist dissidents since the 1960s have found in London a refuge, a place to congregate and survive. Groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain, prominent in the campaign against the Iraq War, and the Cordoba Foundation, a think tank on Muslim relations with the West, are acknowledged to have close ties to the Brotherhood. Of course, such connections are not illegal. Affiliates of the movement are currently in government in Tunisia, Morocco and, until recently, Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is one of the most powerful political entities in the Middle East. As a pan-Arab movement, it combines political activism with charity work and was the only opposition force that flourished under respective dictatorships, emerging as a natural leader after the Arab Spring revolutions. Despite violent beginnings, it renounced the use of force in the 1960s. Allegations of violence But it has been suggested by British officials that individuals associated with the organisation may be involved with violence. The Egyptian government has alleged that it is behind a string of attacks in the country. The review will include an investigation by MI6, the foreign intelligence service, about these allegations, as well as an assessment by MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, of the number of senior leaders based in the UK following the coup. Since July, two members have come to the UK, and I am one of them, says Soudan. This is not a big conspiracy. Experts say that there are currently no figures available on the number of post-coup arrivals, so this is impossible to verify.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 18:04:07 +0000
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