The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is once again a banned organisation. Its assets have been confiscated, its leaders fallen from palaces into jails. The president who hailed from its ranks is being held in secret detention. What hopes it has are pinned on demonstrations organised by “pro-legitimacy” forces and the results of meetings of the International Muslim Brotherhood. It remains unclear whether the Muslim Brotherhood youth who broke away from the organisation and threw themselves into the arms of the regime will be accepted as an alternative to the group. The Brotherhood awaits a final ruling on its appeal against the ban. Already, says Minister of Social Solidarity Ahmed Al-Boraai, the government is anticipating that the initial judgement will be upheld and has formed a committee to study how to implement it. Late last week the authorities sealed the premises of the Freedom and Justice newspaper, mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing the Freedom and Justice Party. Then, quite suddenly, the government decided to put the execution of the court ruling on hold. Mahmoud Abdallah, a member of the Tagammu Party's Freedoms Committee and the lawyer who filed the suit to ban the Brotherhood, sent a memorandum to the prime minister urging him to take all necessary measures to halt the activities of the group. Refaat Al-Said, another party official, criticised the government for dragging its feet on implementing the ban and seizing MB assets. He cautioned that the longer the government puts off these actions the greater the risk that these assets will be smuggled abroad. Some politicians and analysts attribute the government's slowness in implementing the court ruling to concern over Western opinion. Reacting to the ruling to ban the organisation the British government urged the Egyptian authorities to adhere to the principle of inclusiveness. Minister of Middle East and North African Affairs Alistair Pert said that while his government did not support any particular party in Egypt it was strongly in favour of a political system that embraces all and that upholds freedom of expression and opinion. A Canadian newspaper observed that the Egyptian government moved a few steps away from the brink when it decided to defer the implementation of the court ruling to ban the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood. The newspaper advised the government to oppose the suit filed by the Tagammu Party. In spite of all the mistakes made by the Muslim Brotherhood, it argued, Egypt cannot claim to be democratic without the participation of a group supported by a broad segment of Egyptian society. Nor will Egypt attain the rule of law until Islamists, nationalists and secularists accept the principle of the peaceful change of government through fair and honest polls. As the Muslim Brotherhood awaits the final verdict, its international organisation met in Pakistan where the foremost issue, or the chief thread between the issues discussed, was the fall of the group in Egypt. Muslim Brotherhood sources in Egypt anticipate that the International Muslim Brotherhood will strive to pressure the US and European governments into taking actions to rescue the Egyptian group, but the sources did not go into specifics. Kamal Al-Helbawi, a former official of both the Muslim Brotherhood International and the Egyptian organisation, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the very fact that such a meeting was held is a sign of how serious the crisis is for the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt topped the agenda of the international organisation's meetings, he said, because the Muslim Brotherhood remains determined to press the message that their removal from power after 30 June was a “coup” in the hope of sustaining the pressure on Western governments. The breakaway Muslim Brotherhood leader pointed out that MB International meetings are usually devoted to the circumstances of MB branches in each country and how to help them. The meetings are always held in either Turkey or Pakistan where security can be guaranteed and where Muslim Brothers have greater freedom to meet. Al-Helbawi went on to warn of further acts of violence on the part of militant jihadist groups with which the MB are alleged to have links. He added that while the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's known financial resources may be running out, the group had ways of securing alternative funding. His assessment was seconded by Amr Emara, a breakaway Muslim Brotherhood youth, who said the group's “special organisation” — a term used to refer to its alleged underground paramilitary wing — included individuals who were not officially linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and who could easily circulate and supply funds through both private and business accounts. The Muslim Brotherhood looked on anxiously as a group of breakaway youth met with Ahmed Al-Muslimani in the office of the presidency on Tuesday 20 September. During the meeting, attended by the Weekly, Islam Al-Katatni, who had served as the coordinator of the MB group for two years and is related to former People's Assembly spokesman Saad Al-Katatni, presented a new initiative. “Think and come back”, as the initiative is called, is based on three “tracks” — security, ideology and the economy — for handling the Muslim Brotherhood question. The security track is proceeding well, he said, though it needs to be complemented by the ideological track. This will entail a drive to persuade young Muslim Brothers to change their outlook towards which end a series of seminars, awareness-raising meetings and other such activities are being planned. This component of the initiative would engage the services of nine former Brotherhood leaders, including Al-Helbawi, Tharwat Al-Kherbawi, Mokhtar Nouh and Abdel-Galil Al-Sharnoubi, as well as representatives of Al-Azhar and a number of psychologists. Al-Katatni stressed that the initiative would also work to combat extremist Islamist thought in general. Young former Brothers present at the meeting urged the presidency to back the initiative by offering premises for the rehabilitation sessions and promoting media support. They also called for a general conference to facilitate dialogue. Emara, who resigned from the group at the time of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins, said that young former Brothers plan to set up a new party, Youth for Egypt, to serve as an outlet for the young to engage in politics divorced from “religious calling” activities. The founders have already obtained premises in Obour city, though the party has yet to gain the approval of the Political Parties Committee. The presidency promised to study the recommendations made and welcomed further opportunities for dialogue. While this is encouraging for the breakaway youth, it is disturbing for the Muslim Brotherhood which fears that the government is trying to divide its ranks and to use the breakaway youth to market the impression that the government is not opposed to the Islamist trend or to the inclusion of Islamists. The International Muslim Brotherhood is equally concerned and is monitoring how the Egyptian government responds to the breakaway youth. The fate of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt remains up in the air as the group is caught between an imminent ban and marginalisation.
