The Egyptian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee decided in a meeting on Monday to respond to a report released by the UK parliament on the conditions of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt.
The committee said that the report includes a lot of false information and criticism of the Egyptian state, which were supported by inaccurate documents and facts about Brotherhood activities and the crimes they committed against the Egyptian people and the country.
The UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee issued a report last Monday, criticising the British government for giving the impression that it is influenced by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, given that the latter countries are enemies of the Muslim Brotherhood group.
The UK government had issued a review about the Brotherhood organisation—which has been labelled by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a terrorist organisation—however, Sir John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia until 2015, led this review. According to the report, this may imply the involvement of a foreign country in how the Brotherhood review was conducted.
The report also censured the review for not mentioning the heavy persecution that Brotherhood members have been subject to in Egypt since 2013. It added: “This secretive review sought to understand the Muslim Brotherhood but failed to mention some of the most significant factors influencing the group, not least its removal from power in Egypt in 2013 and the subsequent repression of its supporters.”
In August, the British government issued an internal regulation allowing Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters in Egypt to seek political asylum, due to the continuous state crackdown and persecution by Egyptian authorities, explaining that they should easily be granted protection in the form of asylum.
Following the UK government decision, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry described the UK’s attitude towards the Brotherhood as “tolerant”, and said that the decision may have a damaging impact on the positive Egyptian-British bilateral relations.
Since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, the state labelled the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group and banned its activities. In addition, several violent clashes have taken place between Brotherhood supporters and security forces which have resulted in several deaths. Dozens of Brotherhood supporters are serving harsh prison sentences or remain in pretrial detention for excessively long periods.
