Photo shows Corbyn making Muslim Brotherhood hand gesture

British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has been pictured making a hand gesture Muslim Brotherhood supporters use to show their allegiance to the group, in the latest allegation he has ties to extremist groups and supports sectarian politics.

Photographs show the London member of parliament holding up four fingers and tucking his thumb into the palm of his hand.

Making the gesture with him is a member of the Muslim Association of Britain, a Muslim Brotherhood front organisation active in mosques and charities.

The hand gesture has become a campaign rallying point for the Muslim Brotherhood since it was ousted from power in Egypt. Pictures of Mr Corbyn making the Rabaa sign were taken at an event hosted by the MAB and the Finsbury Park mosque in Mr Corbyn’s constituency in 2016.

A 2015 British government report found that the Muslim Brotherhood stood “counter to British values and democracy” and specifically identified the MAB as a prime platform of influence in UK society.

“MAB are associated with the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe, established by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989,” it said.

“MAB has links to the Cordoba Foundation, a think tank associated with the Brotherhood.”

MAB president Anas Al Tikriti has also had a prominent role in the Cordoba Foundation.

Maajid Nawaz, who campaigns against Islamist extremist influence operations, compared the overall movement with the “bigoted, identitarian and dangerous” British National Party.

“It should be as taboo for a leftwing politician to be associated with that group, as it is with the BNP,” he said. A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the sign should be interpreted as a symbol of sympathy for those involved in the crackdown on demonstrators in Cairo in 2013.

“The four-fingered gesture is a well-known symbol of solidarity with the victims of the 2013 Rabaa massacre in Cairo,” the spokesman said.

The images fuelled a row over Mr Corbyn’s close ties to violent groups. The Labour leader has also been shown praying and laying a wreath on the tombs of the suspects behind the murders at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The visit to Tunisia in 2014 was paid for by the country’s government and Mr Corbyn has been reported to the parliamentary authorities for failing to declare the trip in accordance with anti-corruption regulations for members of parliament.

Sajid Javid, the British Home Secretary, called for Mr Corbyn’s resignation, while Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said the Labour leader had lost moral authority.

“If [Jeremy Corbyn] thinks terrorism is justified for the causes he believes in, how would he as prime minister have the moral authority to condemn terrorist murders of British citizens?” Mr Hunt said.