Media Spokesman Mohamed Montaser: Muslim Brotherhood Committed to Non-Violence Strategy

Media Spokesman Mohamed Montaser: Muslim Brotherhood Committed to Non-Violence Strategy

In an interview with Ikhwanweb, Mohamed Montaser, the young official spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood reaffirmed the group’s belief in its chosen peaceful approach in anti-coup resistance:



Ikhwanweb: To start, what are the most important changes in the group since the traitorous July 3 coup?



Montaser: The July 3 coup was not a coup against the Muslim Brotherhood. It was a coup against the Egyptian people and their free will. Since then, the group has seen vast development in its structures and method of management. It has taken a revolutionary form with interconnected structures where youth have a great role and a large proportion of young people operate, with those youths’ opinion deemed most influential in decision-making within the group.



Ikhwanweb: Some western circles think the group abandoned its goals of non-violence action and political projects for a role in ongoing violence.



Montaser: This is not true at all. The Muslim Brotherhood does not have anything to do with ongoing violence in Egypt at all. The group’s strategy is peaceful, in this great revolution. As for the political project, it remains dedicated as ever to the country, guiding it back to the correct path of democratic transformation and empowering young people as well as women, just as the legitimate Egyptian President Morsi said in his last address.



Presently, the Brotherhood has one political project, to build a free homeland, where everyone respects the majority’s choices. Ultimately, all violence is the handiwork of the murderer who has been killing thousands of Egyptians in the streets and squares of Egypt, who is killing Egyptians in Sinai and forcing them out of their homes.



Ikhwanweb: Why has a Jihadist discourse been observed from the group – through certain channels and media outlets, a language that favors Jihad, although some believe that the conflict in Egypt is political, not religious?



Montaser: First, let me emphasize an important fact that tends to be overlooked by some in the media and usually for political reasons. When it comes to who speaks for the Muslim Brotherhood, I would like to clarify that official positions and policies are expressed by statements released only by its Guidance Bureau and the media spokesman. Therefore, we ask the media to exercise caution when reporting news about Muslim Brotherhood from various sources, and we demand that it always verify and check before reporting something as official. Essentially, the conflict in Egypt is political. But the coup regime is working hard to turn it into a religious one. The junta fights all Islamic appearances and symbols. It closes religious channels down and lays siege to and burns down mosques. It fights all things Islamic. Nevertheless, the Muslim Brotherhood aims to unite various factions and political forces, rallying all around a single national project in which all ideologies melt and merge, and hence takes only one color: the national character. So, millions of people of this country have been sacrificing their lives and blood everyday for the freedom and dignity of our homeland.



Ikhwanweb: Are there any communications with western institutions or governments? Or more precisely, is there any western mediation?



Montaser: Certainly, victory for this revolution shall come, God willing, at the hands of the steadfast revolutionary men and women of Egypt. This Revolution will triumph by the will of the Egyptian people, not the will of any foreign party or foreign country.



As for mediation, we are not in a dispute between two regimes. We are in a revolution against the treasonous military coup that usurped the elected President’s legitimacy and the will of the people. There is no solution to the crisis in Egypt except by removing this murderous regime, exacting retribution for the martyrs and returning to the democratic process. Our message to all peoples and nations of the world is: "You must side  with the will of the Egyptian people. The people will be victorious, God willing, in the end, it is inevitable".