Sadat’s widow: My Husabnd was member of the MB

In an interview on Al-Arabiyya channel Friday night on the occasion of the recent publication of her new book “My Hope for Peace,”

Jihan El-Sadat, widow of the late Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat, affirmed that her husband, during part of his lifetime, used to be a member of the MB which she described as “moderate.”

“Yes, El-Sadat was a member of the MB, and even I, in my childhood, greatly believed in them as they started out in Manyal El-Rawdah neighborhood in Cairo where I used to live and late MB Chair Hasan El-Hodeiby used to be our neighbor.  They were ethical youth who enjoyed true faith and upheld the ideals and values of the Egyptian society,” Jihan said in response to a question on El-Sadat’s relation with the MB referred to in her book.

“I was so proud of them to the extent that I used to gather my allowance, go to El-Hodeiby’s and give him an envelope with a very little amount of money.  He would laugh, thank me and pray for me, and I would be very happy and consider myself as having done something very patriotic,” El-Sadat’s wife added.

A few years after acceding to power in 1970, El-Sadat released MB leaders who had been detained during late Gamal Abdul-Nasser’s era and permitted them to practice political work with an aim.  El-Sadat, however, faced severe criticism by the MB after signing the peace treaty with Israel in 1979 causing him to arrest several MB leaders including the MB chair at the time, Omar El-Tilmisany, among 1500 others who were against the treaty in September 1981.