MAS Freedom Presents Former U.S. Attorney General at Press Briefing on Human Rights in Egypt

The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) hosted Former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark for a presentation given at the National Press Center in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, July 26th.

Mr. Clark, a former U.S. Attorney General and acclaimed international peace and human rights advocate, returned earlier in July from Egypt, where he was invited by attorneys for political opposition leaders held in custody by the government of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarrak. The prisoners, who are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were previously exonerated of all charges by an Egyptian civilian court before being re-arrested and tried on the same charges by a military tribunal.

After speaking about the deep significance of Egypt in the Arab and Muslim worlds, Mr. Clark offered background information on the Muslim Brotherhood, a major Islamic movement dating from 1928. The Brotherhood is not only a political opposition party in Egypt, but it also functions as a broad popular movement that “provides more and better charity than the Egyptian government” for poor and needy people in that nation.

Mr. Clark stated that the 40 Muslim Brotherhood detainees were like a “who”s who” of Egyptian leadership. “Six of them (the military detainees) are doctors, including three who are professors at Egyptian medical schools.” The others are engineers, lawyers, and business people. These detentions violate the norms of both Egyptian and international law, and the detainees have suffered from the government closure of their businesses, the freezing of assets, and the seizure of their bank accounts by the ruling government of Egypt.

Some 800 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, along with many secular opponents (journalists, lawyers and academicians) of the Egyptian government, have been arrested in recent years by Egyptian authorities.

On the issue of U.S-Egyptian relations, the former Johnson administration cabinet member noted that Egypt “is not only a dictatorship, but they do a lot of our (U.S. intelligence and torture rendition) dirty work.”

Egypt also receives some $1.7 billion in annual military and non-military aid from the U.S.

The MAS Freedom Foundation also announced plans to continue its direct action and public information campaign in support of human rights in Egypt, and to host a series of monthly luncheon briefings on national and international human rights issues at the National Press Club. MAS Freedom

CONTACT: Ibrahim Ramey of MAS Freedom, 202-496-1288