UK rejects calls to engage with Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

Government issues strong challenge to ‘discreet relations’

LONDON: The UK government has rejected calls to engage with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, claiming the group “did not do enough to demonstrate political moderation or a commitment to democratic values when in power in Egypt.”

The remarks were part of a government response to a Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) report, issued last November, which urged Theresa May’s government to establish relations with the group.

In “Political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood” the FAC described the group as “fundamentally non-violent” advising that the government “establish some discreet relations with formerly elected officials in exile.”

In rejecting the recommendations, the UK government issued a strong challenge to the report’s main lines of argument.

The government said that “parts of the Muslim Brotherhood have a highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism,” and that while some members of the Muslim Brotherhood had publicly reiterated their commitment to non-violence others had not.

It continued: “That association with or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered a possible indicator of extremism.”

The government response reiterated the conclusions of the secretive review of the Muslim Brotherhood carried out in 2014 by Sir John Jenkins, a former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Although never made public, it is widely reported to have reached a similar conclusion.

“There is a fundamental requirement for any organization to reject violence unambiguously, confront violent extremism and commit to constitutional politics,” the government said.

A Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson declined to comment as the response related to the findings of a previous committee.