The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: EC on December 25, 2013, 03:52:11 pm
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NewsBreaker @NewsBreaker 3m
BREAKING: Egypt's military-backed interim government declares the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group - @AP
Tweet only, thus far.
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Via the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25515932
The Islamist group, whose candidate Mohammed Morsi won the country's first democratic presidential election last year before being deposed by the military, had already been outlawed.
Thousands of its supporters have been arrested in a crackdown by the police and military.
This escalation gives the authorities more power to crack down on them.
Hossam Eissa, Minister of Higher Education, read out a Cabinet statement announcing the move after a meeting on Wednesday.
"The Cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organisation as a terrorist organisation," he said.
He added that the implications of the declaration were that those who belonged to the group, financed it or promoted its activities would face punishment.
Brotherhood supporters have staged protests since Mr Morsi's government was toppled on 3 July following widespread anti-Brotherhood protests.
The authorities blame the Brotherhood for the rash of militant attacks that have hit Egypt, a claim the group strongly denies.
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Now will Egypt call the White House a terrorist organization? After all the White House supports the Muzzziebro. Heck they even employ many of them.
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This just can't be the SAME muslim brotherhood our POTUS supports, can it?
Egypt labels Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group
By Ian Swanson
Egypt’s military-run government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.
The move comes months after the military removed Mohammed Morsi from the presidency. Morsi was the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in the 2012 election.
The new government's minister of education read a statement announcing the decision, which will give more power to authorities to crack down on the group.
"The Cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organization as a terrorist organization," the statement from Minister of Higher Education Hossam Elssa read, according to a Fox News report.
The organization has long been a power in Egypt, and was an illegal group in that country until after the 2011 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. But under Morsi, serious opposition developed against the group.
The decision to lable it a terrorist organization comes a day after a bombing the government has blamed on the group, which has organized daily protests since Morsi was overthrown.
Tuesday's bombing hit a police headquarters in a Nile Delta City. Sixteen people were killed in the attack, and more than 100 were wounded.
Elssa blamed the attack on the Muslim Brotherhood in his statement.
"Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group," he said. "This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians (and) a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it is still knows nothing but violence.
"It's not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism," he added.
This story was posted at 11:19 p.m. and updated at 11:35 p.m.
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/193993-egypt-labels-muslim-brotherhood-a-terrorist
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Egypt's military doing the job, Obama won't do.
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Since Egypt did this will they also call the WH a terrorist group too?
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By Fox News
Egypt's military-backed interim government on Wednesday declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, criminalizing all its activities, its financing and even membership to the group from which the country's ousted president hails.
The announcement is a dramatic escalation of the fight between the government and group, which has waged near-daily protests since the July 3 popularly backed military coup that toppled President Mohammed Morsi.
Hossam Eissa, the Minister of Higher Education, read out the Cabinet statement after long meeting, saying: "The Cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organization as a terrorist organization."
He said that the decision was in response to Tuesday's deadly bombing targeting a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city which killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. The Brotherhood has denied being responsible for Mansoura attack and an al-Qaida inspired group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on Wednesday.
"Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group," Eissa said. "This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians (and) a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it is still knows nothing but violence."
"It's not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism," he added.
Eissa offered no evidence in his speech linking the Brotherhood to Tuesday's attack.
The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, denounced violence in the late 1970s. Ibrahim Elsayed, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's political group, the Freedom and Justice Party, said the government announcement will have no impact on the work or the beliefs of the group, because it has seen repeated government repression and continued to exist with a moderate view of Islam.
"This decision is as if it never happened. It has no value for us and is only worth the paper it is written on," he told The Associated Press. "It won't impact us from near and far. Ideas won't be impacted by false accusations. We uphold this call only for the sake of God."
The declaration, he said, means that those who "participate in the group's activities, in the organization or promotion verbally or by writing or by any other means or financing its activities" will be facing punishment according to the law. He said that the government had notified other Arab countries about its decision. The Brotherhood has organizations and political parties in other nations in the region.
Ahmed el-Borai, the Minister of Social Solidarity, told reporters in a news conference that the decision means "all activities of the Muslim Brotherhood group are -- banned including the demonstrations."
The declaration gives the armed forces and the police the right to enter universities and prevent protests, as "protection to the students," el-Borai said.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/25/egypt-declares-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-group/
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In related news, Obama issued a statement to Egypt deploring its actions in the strongest terms.
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Threads merged.
Please everyone try to see if the topic is already posted. This has been posted 3 times now.
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Threads merged.
Please everyone try to see if the topic is already posted. This has been posted 3 times now.
It can be a problem. All three of us are what you might call the early shift as far as posting goes - and we all have very similar news interests. Thank you for merging! :laugh:
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It can be a problem. All three of us are what you might call the early shift as far as posting goes - and we all have very similar news interests. Thank you for merging! :laugh:
Yours was first, by a good amount.
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Only because EC is five hours ahead of us. :seeya:
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In related news, Obama issued a statement to Egypt deploring its actions in the strongest terms.
it's funny, before I read your post I was thinking, "in unrelated news, there has been a spike in asylum applications to the U.S. from members of the M.B.. Privacy laws prevent government comment on any specific asylum seekers."
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... The Muslim Brotherhood fulfills all three requirements to be labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.
There are three reasons why this has not happened: The Brotherhood’s lobby, ignorance and fear.
The political influence of the Brotherhood lobby is enormous. President Obama even addressed the annual convention of a U.S. Brotherhood entity in September. It continues to advise the administration, just as it did the two before it. The impact can even be seen on the Department of Homeland Security.
The lobby’s influence triggers the second factor: Ignorance. Politicians, media figures, even counter-terrorism personnel are left in the dark.
Then, there’s the third factor: Fear. Designating the Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would be messy.
Dozens of mosques and Islamic centers would be raided and the most powerful Muslim-American organizations would be shut down or, at least, publicly investigated. The outcry of “Islamophobia” would be louder than ever as news cameras repeatedly aired footage of federal agents entering mosques.
The global Brotherhood apparatus would go into anti-American overdrive and some of those refraining from violence would reconsider. It would spark outrage from Muslim governments and organizations around the world, especially from “ally” Qatar and NATO member Turkey.
None of these excuses are acceptable. If a group qualifies as a terrorist organization, it needs to be treated as such, regardless of convenience. The facts speak for themselves: The Muslim Brotherhood is a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
More analysis by Ryan Mauro at Front Page Magazine (http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/ryan-mauro/egypt-declares-muslim-brotherhood-a-terrorist-group/)