The Jama'a Islamiya (Islamic Group) Shura Council is set to hold Friday a General Assembly in Cairo to decide on its membership in the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), according to Jama'a Islamiya Liberals movement coordinator Rabei Ali Shalabi. Shalabi told Al Bawaba news the 300- member general assembly was to discuss the formation of a new pro-January 25 revolution bloc. Essam Derballa, Shura Council president, suggested holding the meeting to prevent more cracks among the group's members, Shalaby added,
This meeting comes amid large-scale defections in the influential Islamist group with Yasser Faraweila, founder of the Jama'a Islamiya Rebellion movement stressing on his desire to adopt a more peaceful track with the incumbent regime. Badry Makhlouf, a Jama'a Islamiya senior figure, announced April 9 that he "has withdrawn from NACL", calling on other members to join in his footsteps. The NACL is an opposition Islamist front, established in June 2013that seeks to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Morsi, removed from power July 2013 in the wake ofmass street protests. In February 2014, Al Wasat Party, a close ally of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization, withdrew from NACL. MB dissenter Sameh Eid said the NACL will receive a fierce blow by the defection of its last ally, Jama'a Islamiya. "The decision of withdrawing from NACL has already been made. It will be officially declared soon," he said. Jama'a Islamiya, the once most perilous terrorist group in Egypt, with a string of assassinations against security personnel, thinkers, tourists and facilities declared denouncement of violent ideology at the turn of the Millennium and entered the political scene following the 2011 uprising with the formation of their Construction and Development Party.
