The European Union must reconsider its assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood and declare the group a terrorist organisation, according to the Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights (ISHR).
The ISHR released a statement on 23 October calling upon EU Foreign Chief Catherine Ashton to take the latest developments in the Muslim Brotherhood’s actions into consideration. It described the group as “profoundly anti-democratic” and “terrorist”, according to a translation from German provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
The ISHR criticised the “totalitarian” hierarchy in the Muslim Brotherhood. It highlighted the oath of allegiance a Brotherhood member should swear when joining the organisation, saying members swear to unconditionally obey the Brotherhood leader’s orders without any questions or discussions.
The German organisation also criticised the Brotherhood’s “shocking violence” against its critics as well as against Christians, journalists and “innocent Muslim Egyptians”.
“It has become obvious that the Brotherhood is not merely a religious conservative group,” the statement read, as per the ministry’s translation to English. It also criticised violence exercised by extremist groups in the Sinai Peninsula, describing the situation in Sinai as a “de facto state of war”.
The ISHR is an independent human rights organisation specialised in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). It has a Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and a Participative Status with the European Council.
