The Muslim Brotherhood has not yet given up on its attempts to undermine the Egyptian state and society and is now taking advantage of current economic straits. It is seeking to use its commercial assets, including pharmaceutical firms, to fan tension by depriving the market of crucial products. It is also pursuing a more violent strategy, with Muslim Brotherhood leaders offering advice on armed insurrection. The committee in charge of managing sequestered Brotherhood says the group has attempted to exploit the shortage in certain medicines, some of which they aggravated by having pharmaceutical companies under their control stockpile key products, in order to stir unrest. According to judicial sources the sequestration committee, formed three years ago as part of the campaign to stem funding to the group, has reported that assets worth LE 45 billion have so far been confiscated from 1,422 Brotherhood members involved in funding terrorist activity. The same sources also warned that members of the group whose assets have not been sequestered are offering material support to Brotherhood cells so they can incite violence and unrest at a time of economic crisis. The assets involved include construction, pharmaceutical, import-export and other companies which are being used to harm the economy. Investigations into sequestered companies have brought to light many financial and administrative irregularities. They show that companies controlled by Brotherhood members and the group's sympathisers stockpiled medicines for treatment of diabetes and heart conditions so as to push up the price, and then sold the items on the black market at a huge profit. The aim of the scam, say sources, was to stir unrest and destabilise the country. Not only has the Brotherhood been attempting to manipulate the pharmaceutical market, its leaders have used Internet sites to tell members how they should act to undermine the state. Some of their advice was couched in the form of lengthy articles and studies. A salient example is that prepared by Amir Bassam, a Brotherhood official who fled abroad, which calls for “retaliation” against security officials in Egypt. Towards this end the group's members should engage in a process Bassam terms “preparing with strength”, towards which he offered seven “recommendations”. One was to create a database of all members who had served in the army and received weapons training. Another was to coordinate with anyone who had fought in the jihad in Afghanistan or had other combat experience. These, he said, would form “a competent core” for militias. Former Brotherhood MP Amir Bassam recommended individual initiatives in weapons training and encouraging young men to travel to places - Syria, Libya and Yemen - where “the current jihad” is in progress. Alternatively, he said, they could enlist with Hamas in Gaza. Until such time as they can travel he advised them to follow physical training programmes in gyms and sporting clubs around the country to improve their physical fitness. He also recommended the drawing up of deployment plans and the setting up of groups that offered training in surveillance, information gathering and processing. Bassam discussed the Brotherhood's position on the use of violence. He wrote that the group's founder, Hassan Al-Banna, did not rule out the use of force, though he maintained it should be a last resort. He noted that Al-Banna took practical measures to build the group's paramilitary capabilities, creating scouting organisations and eventually the Special Force, or Brotherhood's military wing. “Never in their history have Muslim Brothers differed over whether or not to use force. It was always a question of when to use it that was the subject of dispute,” wrote Bassam. He pointed out that the Muslim Brothers took part in and supported the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and that no one objected when the Brotherhood in Yemen mustered a force of 70,000 militiamen. The former MP urged his fellow Brothers to “reread the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Banna's speeches and writings in order to understand the group's position on the use of force as a means for change”, continuing: “Perhaps those who oppose providing the trained men, arms and ammunitions and the other prerequisites of force do so out of fear of exposure and the security clampdowns that will follow. Such concerns are valid but they should compel us to be more cautious and prudent…What is important is that preparation with strength involves men with excellent physical fitness, trained in the use of arms and provided with information on the places where arms and ammunitions are stored in the event they are needed.” Bassam cautioned against groups that issue statements and otherwise publicise themselves, a reference to organisations such as Hasm and the Revolution Brigade. The Muslim Brotherhood remains determined to wage war on the state, economically and militarily. Its leaders are not only offering young members counselling on the use of force, they are seeking to establish some form of historical legitimacy for the use of violence and the recruitment of more young people willing to take up arms. The security forces, aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is still bent on its violent ways, remain fully vigilant.
