Reformist Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh denied earlier reports that he had resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a statement posted Tuesday on his official website. To show Abouel Fotouh still maintains cordial relations with the group's leadership, the website said he had called Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie on Tuesday to check on him after his house in Upper Egypt was raided. Abouel Fotouh has criticized the Muslim Brotherhood's outlook in recent weeks, and Brotherhood members contended that he was no longer representative of the group. Reports that Abouel Fotouh would found his own political party exacerbated the strain between him and the organization. Earlier this month, Badie stated that no Brotherhood member would be allowed to join political parties other than the group's Freedom and Justice Party. In recent years, Abouel Fotouh has risen to the foreground as a liberal voice within the 83-year-old conservative Islamist group. His moderate discourse has attracted many liberals and secularists. But in early 2010, he was completely sidelined within the organization after being excluded from the Guidance Bureau, the group's most influential power structure. Since then, the group has been dominated by hardliners.
