Gamal Heshmat Slams Foreign Minister Remarks on Muslim Brotherhood

Gamal Heshmat Slams Foreign Minister Remarks on Muslim Brotherhood

Dr. Gamal Heshmat, leading member of both the Freedom and Justice Party and the Anti-Coup Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance, expressed surprise at statements made by the coup’s Foreign Minister, in which he said the group’s members are Egyptians, with full citizenship rights provided that they commit to non-violence.

Dr. Heshmat said: "The Muslim Brotherhood never asked for, nor needed, a citizenship certificate from the minister. However, it is a positive statement from the coup minister. On the other hand, he puts a flawed condition for that: the group should commit to non-violence and join the process of community building. He cannot see that the Muslim Brotherhood is already peaceful, has always been, nor has he noticed that it has always been building across the nation. If he only remembers a little, he would know that the history of Muslim Brotherhood is peaceful, and their building work is practical, among the people, among the poor and the disadvantaged. That is the Brotherhood’s way of life, which the minister never experienced.

"The coup minister forgets that the junta-installed government – in which he belongs – has arbitrarily arrested and detained professors, scientists, doctors and engineers, and seized all Brotherhood-affiliated hospitals, schools, factories, companies, NGOs, and charitable organizations through which the Brotherhood provided care for the poor. The Brotherhood’s is a model of peaceful action, a true form of community building. By contrast, what did the minister or his government ever offer? They spread violence and chaos, murdered unarmed civilians, sparked discord among Egyptians since the coup. Evidently, with this absurd condition, the minister is courting the West."

Dr. Heshmat added: "The minister is merely practicing double talk, just the kind of language used and appreciated by foreign powers that deal with Egypt with similarly absurd double standards. As junta generals in Egypt murdered, wounded, burnt, jailed and tortured to death tens of thousands of innocent citizens, the world did not speak out or move a finger to stop the horrid acts of inhuman repression; yet everyone erupted in action when 25 citizens were killed in the Ukraine.

"The world has forgotten the Muslim Brotherhood’s commitment to peaceful opposition and community-building action. The whole world has turned a blind eye to the killing of thousands of Egyptians and the brutal violence committed by coup security forces. In Egypt, now, the government is appointed by junta generals, for whom the security solution is above all else. Indeed, this regime’s ministers are not qualified to provide a political solution or initiative. Their first option is to handle crises from a security perspective, to crack down hard on peaceful protesters and to eliminate all opponents."