The National Council for Women (NCW) said in a press conference on Wednesday that it fully supports the police and armed forces in what it describes as a “war on violence and terrorism.”
It called on the government to officially ban the Muslim Brotherhood and list it as a terrorist organisation for “intimidating and terrorising peaceful civilians in the name of religion.”
“Women were mistreated, neglected and alienated during [former president Mohamed] Morsi’s rule,” NCW President Mervat Tellawy said. “Today, women are frustrated and very angered by the terrorist acts of the Muslim Brotherhood; every day, a woman loses a son, a husband, a brother to the violence.”
The NCW statement claimed that women and children were exploited as human shields in the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Square sit-ins. The organisation also claimed that Morsi supporters sexually exploited women in the name of jihad.
The press conference criticised western governments for their response to the recent security crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi. It accused the west of hypocrisy for condemning Egypt’s “war against terrorism” while simultaneously pursuing their war against terrorist elements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I call on the United States and Europe to sit down with Taliban to discuss terrorism,” NCW member Azza Heikal said, mocking calls from western countries for national reconciliation and dialogue in Egypt.
Heikal cited the US State Department’s definition of terrorism to describe the recent acts of violence attributed to Morsi supporters, including the killing of 25 security personnel in Sinai, the burning of police stations and churches, and the use of lethal force during clashes with the police.
A promotional video was shown during the press conference where NCW claimed that police had used lethal force solely in self-defense during its dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in.
NCW also accused western media of “supporting the Muslim Brotherhood” by “presenting distorted facts and biased information”. Judge Tahani El Gibaly, one of the speakers at the conference, accused western governments of using their media in an attempt to “bring down the Egyptian State and revolution.”
“Reconciliation does not happen with an international terrorist organisation,” El Gibaly added in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. “There will be no reconciliation with law-breakers; a legal state cannot make exceptions to the law.”
