Muslim Brotherhood Seeks Registration as an NGO

Muslim Brotherhood leaders have confirmed that the group is making serious efforts seeking to legalize their status, in compliance with the new NGO law Egyptian People’s Assembly (the lower house of parliament) aims to issue as soon as it convenes, affirming that the Brotherhood will be the first to seek to adjust its legal status as an NGO, just as it promptly legalized its political activities through its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Saad Al-Husseini, Muslim Brotherhood leader, said that the Brotherhood is seriously seeking to adjust its legal status, pointing to ongoing extensive consultations with many NGOs on the new law on civil society associations, which will be issued immediately after the People’s Assembly is reinstated.

On the issue of the future relationship between the group and the FJP, once the group has adjusted its position, Al-Husseini explained that the FJP will be completely independent in all its political activities.

For his part, Mukhtar Al-Ashri, Chairman of the FJP’s Legal Committee, asserted the group’s keenness to work within the law and under the control of the Central Auditing Agency, accusing the former regime of obstructing the legalization of the group.

Ashri pointed out that the parliamentary elections proved that the group’s legitimacy is confirmed by street and people power, saying that immediately after the NGO law is issued, the group will be the first to reconcile their status as an NGO.

He accused those who seek to ban unlicensed groups and organizations of seeking to revive gagging policies by which the former regime thrived.

Ashri further explained that when the government decision to disband the group was issued, back in 1948, it was promptly canceled by the judiciary, and the ruling’s arguments stressed that the group had acquired a legal status that cannot be taken away except by the judiciary, and that the group is in fact an inclusive Islamic organization which cannot be subject to the narrow definition of the law of civil society associations.

He added that while the government claimed it disbanded the group in 1954, it failed to provide the text of the resolution disbanding the group for 30 years, which confirms the continued legal status of the Brotherhood, and that it does not need to re-legalize its status.

However, Ashri stressed, that the group does seek to review its legal status, after stability is restored to the volatile political scene.