Muslim Brotherhood Statement Regarding General Al-Sisi Speech Wednesday, July 24

At a military academy graduation ceremony Wednesday, General Sisi gave an alarming speech which confirms as follows:

General Sisi is the de facto ruler of the country now, he is the one calling the people to the street, which is a political action. He seeks a mandate for him and the police! In what capacity does he control the police? As the de facto ruler of Egypt, perhaps?

This confirms the fact that what they did was nothing but a full-fledged military coup which brings us back to the dictatorial, despotic and fascist military regime; a true police state that confiscates people’s freedom, sovereignty and dignity.

Sisi makes many serious allegations, in which the second party is the legitimate elected President, abducted and isolated away from the people in a mafia-like operation. Where is chivalry, honor and honesty in all this? The basic principle is that the people should hear the story from both parties in order to know the truth.

He is determined to betray the oath he took, to overturn legitimacy and lay to waste the Constitution and deride democracy. Thus, Sisi gives an excuse for any subordinate in any organization to overthrow their boss, a sure invitation to chaos, with force as the ultimate arbitrator.

He calls for new elections, having – with his bloody coup – brought us back to square one. We did hold several elections and referendums in which Sisi’s supporters failed completely. Therefore, what is required are elections that bring a certain faction and exclude the largest faction chosen by the people.

The original concept and principal is that the army belongs to the people, the whole people of the country. This coup, however, makes believe that the army belongs to a certain faction and not the other, setting it up for a confrontation with the other (larger) faction, depicting it as an enemy! This is dividing the people of Egypt. It threatens to divide the army itself, which in turn threatens national security.

The coup commander has dragged the army into partisan politics, distracting it from its main mission of being devoted to protecting the homeland. We witnessed how this approach brought about the 1967 catastrophe. By contrast, when the army focused on its main duty, it achieved victory in 1973.

General Sisi claimed that he mounted the heinous coup in response to ‘popular demand’. Today, he instructs the people to take to the streets, meaning this minority of people who demonstrated on June 30 and were magnified in professionally prepared clips, alleging that they were millions, while turning a blind eye to the majority who demonstrated in Cairo and in most governorates across Egypt rejecting his traitorous coup and committing to constitutional and democratic legitimacy which they chose and voted for in 5 elections and referendums, and vowing to commit to viable democracy that they aspired to apply for sixty years now.

This majority did not demonstrate for just a few hours, but have been in permanent, huge and peaceful protests and sit-ins for almost four weeks now.

The most treacherous point in Sisi’s speech is his call to his supporters to take to the streets to give him and the police legitimacy and mandate to deal effectively with what he called ‘violence and terrorism’.

Evidently, this is an invitation to civil war, to spill the blood of the people in the streets, while he talks about compassion and loyalty for the Egyptian people and still claiming that he mounted his coup for fear of civil war.

Furthermore, pro-legitimacy, anti-coup demonstrators are strictly committed to peacefulness in all their activities and protest events, while most certainly violence and terror are the adopted approach of coup commanders, the police and their cold-blooded murders, mercenaries, snipers and hired thugs.

It suffices to know that in three weeks since the coup, more than 200 Egyptians were killed with live ammunition, thousands were injured, and hundreds were arrested and detained, while false accusations were leveled at hundreds of political leaders, as their funds were frozen.

Moreover, several satellite TV channels were shuttered for telling the truth. Of the murdered citizens, 100 were victims of the massacre in front of the Republican Guard club. They were attacked and killed with live bullets as they went down in dawn prayers.

In that short 3-week period, we have also witnessed the vicious siege of mosques and attacks on their worshippers. Until now, citizens fall every day, women and young girls included. Do these acts come from a self-proclaimed God-fearing person, as Sisi claimed time and time again?!

General Sisi also claimed that he advised the President repeatedly, but he did not respond. The fact is that Sisi deceived and betrayed his boss, despite the President’s keen appreciation of and care for the military.

On the other hand, General Sisi never ‘advised’ the other faction, which was intent on toppling President by withdrawing from all constitutional institutions, demolishing or disbanding elected democratic institutions, and plotting demonstrations that use terror and violence against the presidential palace and the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party as well as other parties that support democratic legitimacy and economic institutions.

This means that the intention to mount the ruinous coup was a conspiracy, prepared over a long time, with support from the West and the Gulf states.

The President had offered a roadmap approved by Islamist parties and rejected by the secular, liberal and leftist parties. It is exactly the same roadmap announced by General Sisi in his latest speech, except that Sisi only added the removal of the elected President and suspension of the Constitution. All this goes to show that these two ‘additions’ were behind all the heinous maneuvers made by failed politicians and military coup commanders.

The Egyptian army will not be divided and will not draw their weapons against their own people. The army will not turn into a partisan or sectarian force, no matter how corrupt putschists try. Egyptian police will not turn into murderous militias.

The Egyptian people will not give in, and will not fear putschists’ threats. They will not abandon their freedom and will not enter into the fold of a new dictatorial regime and a repressive police state. They have suffered enough degradations and oppression over the past sixty years.

The people will not buy a life when the price is their dignity and freedom.

We hold General Sisi fully responsible for the spilling of any Egyptian blood, and for deepening national division.

"… God has full power and control, but most people do not know" (Quran 12:21)

"Think not that Allah is unaware of what the wicked do." (Quran 14:42)

The Muslim Brotherhood

Cairo: July 24, 2013