Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to legally challenge US terror designation
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to legally contest the United States’ decision to designate its organisation and allied branches in Jordan and Lebanon as terrorist groups, calling the move "detached from reality and unsupported by evidence."
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the Brotherhood said it "will pursue all appropriate legal avenues to challenge this decision and to protect the rights of the organisation and its members," rejecting Washington's designation as politically motivated and harmful to millions of Muslims worldwide.
Earlier, the US Treasury and State Departments said they were imposing sanctions on the Muslim Brotherhood's Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches, alleging the groups pose a threat to US interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch as a "foreign terrorist organisation" (FTO), the most severe classification under US law, which criminalises the provision of any material support to the group.
Separately, the Treasury Department listed the Jordanian and Egyptian branches as "specially designated global terrorists", accusing them of providing support to Hamas.
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The designations make it illegal to provide material support to the groups. They also largely ban their current and former members from entering the US and impose economic sanctions to choke their revenue streams.
In its statement, the Muslim Brotherhood said the designation "politicises counterterrorism tools, conflates peaceful Islamic civic engagement with extremism, and reinforces narratives that marginalise Muslims."
The group insisted that it has "never threatened the security of the United States" and vowed to exhaust legal channels to overturn the designation, while urging human rights organisations and civil society to challenge what it described as a discriminatory policy.
The designations come years after US President Donald Trump first floated the idea of banning the movement.
Trump apparently began pushing for the ban after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the White House in the spring of 2019, according to a New York Times report.
However, at the time, the Defence Department, career national security staff, government lawyers and diplomatic officials raised legal and policy objections.
What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the world's largest and most well-known Islamic movements.
It was established in opposition to British colonial rule and its leaders have consistently said the organisation renounces violence and operates as a political and social movement.
After operating in secret for years, it was outlawed and attacked by nationalist Arab rulers like Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Hafez al-Assad of Syria. However, the Muslim Brotherhood gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s as secular, authoritarian governments pushed modernisation and western agendas.
In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, its popularity skyrocketed as protesters took to the streets to overthrow autocratic rulers.
In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a senior figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, won what is widely regarded as the country's first and only free presidential election. He was overthrown a year later in a military coup and died in custody in 2019.
Tensions over the group culminated in a rift between regional powers Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE and Saudi Arabia led a blockade of Qatar and fought proxy wars with Turkey in countries like Libya.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have all banned the Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan banned the organisation in April, allegedly after pressure from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel.
More recently, the Gulf states have tried to patch up ties, but the Muslim Brotherhood remains a point of contention in the region with many autocrats and monarchies viewing the group as a threat to their rule.
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