- MB Statements
- December 29, 2013
- 6 minutes read
Muslim Brotherhood Statement on Coup Forces Brutally Assaulting, Harassing Women
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
On November 21, 2011, we issued a statement after the attack on demonstrators near the Cabinet building in Cairo where a girl was dragged on the ground and partly undressed by security forces. At the time, we said: "What happened is a crime that indicates a deep desire to lure loyal citizens everywhere to crush them, to sow seeds of strife and chaos and terrorize the people". It then transpired that there are several parties that do not mind burning the whole country and killing youths in order to force the people to succumb to new tyranny, corruption and slavery.
On December 26, 2013, a number of officers gathered around a veiled (female) student at Al-Azhar University, repeatedly kicking and brutally beating her with sticks, and then dragged her by her clothes and arrested her.
On December 27, 2013, we saw a dozen soldiers and officers surround a girl in Nasr City, then drag her on the ground. They then tossed her into a police transport vehicle, arresting and detaining her.
We say now what we said then, that this lynching is a criminal act executed by a gang of coup thugs who lost all chivalric sense of honor. The girl committed no crime. She simply came out to express her views and exercise her constitutional right to peaceful demonstration.
Coup forces’ brutality did not stop at this. On December 28, 2013, in Damietta, about ten women were attacked, their heads badly injured. Worse still, coup thugs sexually assaulted them. These days, there have been repeated attacks on and arrest and detention of girls and women in many provinces of Egypt.
All these are religious, moral and social crimes completely condemned by our Egyptian religious oriental society that respects values of chastity and honor, and where women are respected, protected and held in the highest regard.
This vile aggression by the police and their thugs and other collaborators indicates that the murderous military coup does not respect Islamic principles, moral values or the customs and traditions of the Egyptian people. This is not surprising, since the junta denied Egyptians the right to liberty, sovereignty and life itself. They trampled the people’s will and their choice of MPs, President and Constitution.
We wonder: Where is the National Council for Women as women are subjected to all these abuses and violations? Or does this Council serve only liberal women?
If the coup uses this cruelty and violence to terrorize women so they do not participate in demonstrations, they should know that they have failed. The putschists have used every means of repression, but only managed to mobilize more people, of all walks of life, to join the steadfast anti-coup protesters, giving them even more momentum and escalating their activities.
The putschists must accept the truth, accept popular will, and hand back the power they illegally usurped. This is the only solution.
The heinous putschists must realize that the people will prosecute them. Their crimes will not be forgiven and will not be time-barred.
The Muslim Brotherhood
Cairo: December 28, 2013
