Monday 02 December 2024

From the archive of Abdelrahim Ali

Ali: Anti-Egypt campaign in the name of human rights serving the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood

Published
Abdelrehim Aly

Claims about violations mere Brotherhood lies that are bankrolled by suspicious groups

Defending human rights is the foundational value of the West during the post-period. This is one of the philosophical foundations of the Age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution, which launched the famous Declaration of Human Rights and Citizenship in 1789.

However, this noble concept is often overused, and sometimes even distorted by a number of movements and actors whose real agenda has nothing to do with human rights' values. They seek to achieve subversive political goals under this pretext.

The best example of this unfortunate exploitation is what is happening now in France and elsewhere in the West. Many anti-Western leftist organizations, who call themselves "Islamist leftists", are constantly attacking regimes in Arab countries like Egypt which stands on the front line of the fight the extremist Muslim Brotherhood organization.

This organization is the ideological source and the main engine of terrorism, now rampant everywhere because of what came to be known as the "Arab Spring".

Brotherhood lie

We all know that the term "human rights" is used systematically by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is leading an intense campaign from Europe and Qatar, as well as the circles of American democracy and Turkey to demonize the Egyptian state and incite international and Western public opinion against it.

As an Egyptian citizen and expert specializing in the affairs of Islamic movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist movements in general, and also believing in the need to defend secularism, I cannot help but confirm that the campaigns launched by these groups only benefit militants and terrorists.

In fact, those who wage these campaigns against Cairo are contributing, willingly or unwillingly, to slowing down Egypt's efforts on the path to fighting terrorism. They seek in various ways to obscure the role this country plays to restore security and stability regionally and internationally.

It is strange that many organizations in the West get their knowledge about the human rights situation in Egypt from Brotherhood operatives, now in Western countries after fleeing their home country. The same operatives were sentenced in Egypt for their involvement in killing and bloodshed and attacks on state facilities since 2013. Attacks by the same operatives claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people. They also attacked mosques, churches, and security and military installations.

False human rights defenders attacked Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, just when no place in Egypt was spare from terrorist attacks. Terrorists staged more than 1,000 operations that left more than 4,000 people dead, including army personnel, policemen, and civilians.

This is the method the Brotherhood leaders, including their supreme guide, always use. Incumbent supreme guide Ibrahim Moneer uses London as a launch pad for his operations. This European capital has become a safe haven for the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.

This organization uses other European capitals to disseminate false information to human rights activists and the far-left, known as "Islamic left". The same activists use the information given them by the organization in addressing the media and the European Parliament.

Egypt has come a long way in fighting terrorism. Europe should have helped it, instead of obstructing its efforts to eradicate terrorism.

Unfortunately, Europe and its activists often forget that period, when they attacked Egypt. This country had seen two great revolutions. After the first one the Muslim Brotherhood hijacked the country. The one opened the door for the arrival to power by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in June 2014. This happened after more than 30 million people, terrified and terrorized by the Muslim Brotherhood, asked the army to intervene and sack Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi who wanted to turn Egypt into a militant theocracy.

Sisi was subsequently elected by an overwhelming majority. This was a time when the Egyptian economy was on the brink of collapse, the society was in chaos, and terrorism everywhere on the streets of the Egyptian capital.

During that period, terrorist organizations backed by the Muslim Brotherhood attacked state institutions, private properties and houses of worship. The attacks also happened against moderate mosques that were not controlled by the Brotherhood. Hundreds of people were victimized in these attacks.

Egypt's complete rebuilding was necessary to restore discipline to the streets and pull the country out of the economic and financial hardships it was suffering from.

This was why the parliament elected in October of 2015 passed laws that partially limited some political rights, including the right to stage protests. The emergency law was reinstituted because of the ongoing war on terrorism.

The constitutions of well-established Western democracies stipulate the use of the state of emergency when necessary. This is important for governments to confront dangers to society. Egypt did this.

I want to ask the members of the European Parliament who voted last November in favor of a resolution against Egypt: What would they do if Egypt collapsed and became like Libya, now an abandoned geopolitical black hole where terrorists, mafias and traffickers have a free hand?

What will have remained of human rights and citizenship rights if this country became bankrupt completely or turned into another version of the African Sahel countries after the downfall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya?

The African Sahel has become a new epicenter of terrorism in the African continent Gaddafi, which became a center of terrorism in Africa.

What will happen to world peace if terrorism was allowed to strike the region by hitting in the most populated regional state? What will happen to Europe if the influence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorists and ISIS, became unrivalled in Libya? What will happen now if Egypt is in a state of general weakness or is unable to challenge Erdogan's ambitions in Libya? By acting to trim Erdogan's ambitions in Libya, Egypt is protecting itself, fellow Arab states and Europe. It is protecting everybody against new Ottoman imperialism and the imperialism of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Do the human rights organizations defending the Muslim Brotherhood know the reality of this group?

I want to ask another question to some "progressives" and Western human rights activists who defend Muslim Brotherhood operatives who have been imprisoned in Egypt since 2013 on the background of terrorism cases.

These people describe these operatives as "political detainees" under the pretext that the Brotherhood has established a political party, namely the Freedom and Justice Party whose candidate won the 2012 presidential elections.

Do they know that Abdullah Azzam, the founder of al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's teacher, was one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Do they know that Sayed Qotb, the prime Muslim Brotherhood theoretician and the inventor of its ideology, is the godfather of all terrorist organizations and the main reference for the theorists of al-Qaeda, ISIS and even Ayatollah Khomeini?

Youssef al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood prominent figure and the co-founder of most official Muslim Brotherhood associations in Europe, is responsible for hundreds of edicts that approve suicide attacks against Europeans, Americans, Jews, Christians, Arab nationalists and secular leaders under the pretext that all of them are infidels?

He orders European Muslims not to integrate into those their societies, asking them to invade the continent.

Do human rights organizations that prefer peaceful means to violence understand the reality of the Muslim Brotherhood? Do they really know that the Muslim Brotherhood view Adolf Hitler, for example, as an icon? Do they know that the late mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, was a disciple of Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan al-Banna? Do they know that al-Husseini was collaborated with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy? Do they know that the Brotherhood welcomed him as a hero in Cairo in 1945 when he escaped from his prison in France after being convicted of crimes against humanity in the Anti-Nazi Court in Nuremberg?

To those who demand – in vain – through calls and the resolutions of the European Parliament against Egypt to impose an embargo on European arms to Cairo, I want to remind you that we have many other challenges than confronting terrorism. We need to strengthen police so that it can secure the country. We need to build the capabilities of the army to face the challenges of increasing Turkish threats in the region.

A strong partner

In this global context, Egypt strengthened its strategic partnership with France. It signed agreements with Greece and Cyprus and also strengthened its partnership with France's strong ally in the Gulf region, namely the United Arab Emirates, which has the largest French military base.

On the other hand, the elected Egyptian parliament d into law drafts to stimulate the reconstruction of the country within the framework of Egypt's sustainable development strategy.

The traditional concept of human rights has evolved to include social and economic rights as basic rights. Slums were eradicated and citizens were granted the right to adequate housing. Hepatitis C was eradicated, health services improved, and education modernized, which is necessary for the fight against extremism and terrorism.

Women and Christians were given the right to adequate political representation.

State authorities also implemented giant electricity projects, which are the main driver of the development process. Thanks to these measures, women won, for the first time in Egypt's history, 25% of the seats in parliament.

As for the Christians, they won 31 seats, six times higher than the number of seats they won in the previous parliaments.

Hidden agenda

We would have appreciated it, if human rights defenders interested in what they call "repression" and the defense of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists imprisoned since 2013 in connection with terrorist cases had mentioned all these achievements.

We would have been thankful if they had referred to the unprecedented progress made by Sisi. Sorry to say, some of the associations that defend human rights receive dubious financing.  They tried to achieve other goals, including the sabotage of economic and social reforms in Egypt by calling for boycott campaigns and strikes in the country.

The same strategy was followed against some other Arab countries that fight terrorism and stand against the aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was launched against France and its companies overseas.