Muslim Brotherhood Committed to Peaceful Protest; Junta Escalate Exclusion, Elimination

The Muslim Brotherhood issued the following statement about the military coup government’s latest escalation against opponents by placing the group on so-called terrorism lists:

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In an old (Aesop) fable, a wolf accuses a lamb of muddling the water. But when the lamb proves his innocence, the wolf says: "Perhaps your father once did". The moral is: any excuse will serve a tyrant.

That’s what Beblawi’s illegitimate military-installed government did Wednesday – having come into power on the backs of tanks after their self-serving political parties failed, while the Muslim Brotherhood won all elections.

This illegitimate military-appointed government exercised the ugliest forms of violence and terror in horrid massacres, killing thousands, injuring thousands more, and arresting tens of thousands more – mostly from a group that believes in peaceful protest, as a religious, human, national, and political duty.

Over thirty years of the Mubarak era, the regime unjustly arrested, tortured and executed over fifty thousand members of the Muslim Brotherhood, yet the group never committed a single act of violence. Again, under the junta’s regime, many thousands of the Brotherhood’s members have been killed, wounded or arrested, yet the group has not committed a single act of violence.

The coup’s illegitimate military-installed government burned and destroyed homes, mosques and hospitals and froze funds of charities – thus starving the poor, throwing orphans out onto the streets, killing babies who were in charity-funded incubators, and killing dialysis patients who were on charity-funded machines, while the Brotherhood built hospitals and schools, helped orphans and the poor, provided free medical care and education for many and generally did all kinds of charitable work in all parts of Egypt.

A month ago, the president of the coup’s illegitimate military-installed government said on TV for all people to hear: "The Cabinet cannot consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, except through a trial and a legal process, because this is not the prerogative of the government or the administrative authority. If we do that, we’d kill law and order".

The same president then came out, after the criminal bombing of Dakahlia’s Security compound, to allege that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist group. His Cabinet, before any investigation is started, announced the Muslim Brotherhood is now placed on a so-called list of terrorist organizations. Thus the Cabinet got involved in matters outside its jurisdiction, and proved that the State no longer respects the law or the judiciary.

In fact the Muslim Brotherhood immediately condemned the criminal bombing incident, and demanded a fast investigation and a fair punishment for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, a militant group called Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem), one of the armed militant groups in the Sinai Peninsula, on Wednesday evening, claimed responsibility for the heinous bombing which targeted Dakahlia’s Security Directorate building.

The coup’s illegitimate military-installed government is a declared enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood, yet it appointed itself a judge and executioner, making baseless allegations against the Muslim Brotherhood, passing sentences without evidence or due process, and then rushing to act upon those immediately.

This same junta-installed government and its lying media castrati made false accusations against the Muslim Brotherhood many times before, alleging presence of heavy weapons in the Rabaa sit-in camp (as stated by the draft dodger Nabil Fahmi, the junta’s Foreign Minister), claiming that this was based on information from Amnesty International (which immediately denied his claim). They even claimed the presence of chemical weapons and "weapons of mass destruction" at the peaceful sit-in camp, a evidently a totally groundless lie. They also unjustly blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for apparent attempted assassinations of the Interior Minister and an officer called Mohamed Mabrook, and for burning churches and many other crimes. The baseless lies in all these incidents were exposed and proved as such.

This shows the illegitimate junta-installed government’s determination to vilify and demonize the Muslim Brotherhood in order to exclude it or push it out of the arena, in order for the coup to easily monopolize power, and also to satisfy hostile foreign powers.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said: "Then the President was abducted and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested, detained in inhumane conditions, and treated as if they were terrorists, which they are not".

Moreover, according to the Daily Telegraph, democracy’s greatest hero in 2013 was undoubtedly the Muslim Brotherhood. The British newspaper said that the Brotherhood deserves an award for defending democracy and freedom, criticizing them only for being too committed to moral ideals.

The award from Beblawi’s illegitimate military-installed government was to place the group on the terrorism list. Indeed, very soon international justice will hunt these fascist putschists for their most obvious crimes against humanity.

The junta aim to break the popular movement challenging the coup. They should realize that the Egyptian people, who did not fear the coup authorities’ prisons, arson and execution, will not be dissuaded by an unjust ruling against one of its factions. The whole people of Egypt have owned this cause of sovereignty, freedom and dignity.

The traitorous putschists are doing their worst to push us, or any group of the people rising in revolt, to resort to violence. This is destined to be another failed attempt, since we believe in peaceful protest and political defiance. It is the source of our power, our strength and effectiveness.

The same is true for the brutal putschists’ attempt to spark civil strife. It will fail, too. The illegitimate junta-installed government will bear the responsibility for their murderous efforts in this matter as well.

The moment of truth is approaching fast, God willing.

Then, the unjust oppressors will see what destiny they will ultimately meet.

The Muslim Brotherhood

Cairo: December 26, 2013