Last week the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Youm published transcripts of five telephone conversations it claimed had taken place between Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas officials between 22 January and 11 February 2011. The paper said the conversations had been recorded by the State Security Investigation service. The telephone conversations detailed tactical coordination between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, with the former offering support on 25 and 28 January 2011 to topple then president Hosni Mubarak. Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk denied any phone calls were made between Hamas and Brotherhood officials during the early days of the Egyptian revolution. “These reports are false,” Abu Marzouk told the daily Al-Ahram. “If reports about phone conversations between Brotherhood and Hamas leaders during the revolution were true why haven't they published the names of the callers? The story is nothing but a compilation of insinuations.” Former interior minister Major General Mansour Eissawi said in an interview published on Monday in Al-Masry Al-Youm that “the Armed Forces took the recordings after protesters stormed security headquarters in various governorates following the revolution.” Eissawi pointed out that the recordings between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas officials had been mentioned by Omar Suleiman, late head of Egyptian General Intelligence, in testimony before the Cairo Criminal Court in September 2011. At the time Suleiman claimed members of Hamas were monitored in Tahrir Square during the early days of the revolution. “The information we have suggests Hamas played a significant role in the storming of prisons in the early days of the 2011 revolution. Members of Hamas attacked prisons where political prisoners were held,” said Eissawi. Abu Marzouk claims publication of the calls is part of the ongoing “political struggle” taking place in Egypt. Al-Masry Al-Youmsays transcripts of the recorded conversations were eventually handed to Muslim Brotherhood strongman Khairat Al-Shater by National Security Apparatus (NSA)head General Khaled Tharwat. Tharwat was appointed by former interior minister Ahmed Gamal as head of the NSA in October 2012. Previously he had been the chief of the Department of Internal Activity which monitors civil society groups, political parties and media outlets. Sources in the NSA are quoted in the report saying the recording of Brotherhood leaders' telephone conversation was routine procedure. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref denies Al-Shater received any transcripts. He insists that the story is part of a campaign to tarnish the image of the Brotherhood. The suggestion that there was coordination between political Islamists in Cairo and Gaza has served as a red flag for opponents of President Mohamed Morsi's regime. Anti-Morsi politicians argue that the Brotherhoodisation of the security services is well underway and have appealed to the prosecutor-general to investigate the allegations published in Al-Masry Al-Youm. “The report confirms that the Hamas leaders were present in Egypt before the 25 January Revolution. The telephone calls represent blatant interference by Hamas in Egyptian national security,” says Tagammu Party lawyer Hassan Fayyad. Two months ago Hamas was accused of smuggling rolls of fabric used for Egyptian army uniforms into the Gaza Strip with the aim of faking Egyptian military uniforms so its operatives could pose as Egyptian soldiers and conduct attacks against Egyptians on Egyptian soil. Some leftist politicians have also linked Hamas to the August 2012 terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. The Interior Ministry has denied the story of Al-Masry Al-Youm. “All the information included in the report is completely false,” an official security source told Al-Ahram Weekly. The ministry, he added, has a policy of ignoring attempts to settle political accounts, though he warned such “allegations clearly detract the role played by the security apparatus in the country's security”. “General Tharwat didn't hand any papers, records or information to Muslim Brotherhood officials… security information is all classified,” the source said. The Interior Ministry reserves the right to take legal action over erroneous stories published in the media, the source added.
