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MB Chairman to "Egypt 25": Sovereignty is of the Egyptian People

Dr. Mohamed Badie, Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), stated that the movement is looking forward to the decisions and choices of Egypt's newly designated Egyptian prime minister, tasked with forming a national salvation government, Dr. Kamal el-Ganzouri, to determine the MB’s position and views of him.

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Dr. Mohamed Badie, Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), stated that the movement is looking forward to the decisions and choices of Egypt's newly designated Egyptian prime minister, tasked with forming a national salvation government, Dr. Kamal el-Ganzouri, to determine the MB’s position and views of him.

Dr. Badie said in an exclusive interview conducted by Hazem Ghorab, director of the satellite channel "Egypt 25" Saturday evening: “We look forward to Dr. Kamal El-Ganzouri’s performance and choices; and we pray to Allah Almighty to help and guide him. He is a national, patriotic figure with well-known views. We will certainly back him, if he makes the right choices; and we will give him our sincere advice, if he does not."

He pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood is also waiting to see the extent of the powers entrusted to Ganzouri, as well as his decisions, choices, performance and the time-table he will put for Egypt’s peaceful passage through this critical period until the handover of power to the people, after they choose an elected People’s Assembly, and then an elected government and an elected president.

On the Tahrir Square brutal events, Dr. Badie stressed that there are hidden hands that spark the fires and ignite the violence. Those are known by the Military Council (SCAF) and the Ministry of the Interior, but have not so far been held accountable. He also stressed that the MB’s view is that the same bloodied hands are responsible for plotting the murderous events of Tahrir Square, Imbaba and Maspero in Cairo, so Egypt would not reap the fruits of its revolution.

He explained that the accumulation of neglect, negligence and errors led to the escalation of the already tense situation, while ignoring good advice and turning a blind eye to brutality made things worse in Tahrir Square. He added: “We discovered that there is a conspiracy in the events of Tahrir, an attempt to lure the Brotherhood to the Square. Various official and public bodies asked us to go join protesters, in complete contrast to the usual ways witnessed in every ‘million-man march’ where they pleaded with us not to join the masses.

The MB Chairman emphasised that the Muslim Brotherhood is an institutional movement committed to Shura (democratic consultation) as an obligatory binding command of God Almighty – as stated clearly in the Holy Quran. Having received information from several sources, the MB Administrative Office was certain that if the Muslim Brotherhood took to Tahrir Square in that confused, precarious scene, there would have been a tremendous escalation in the violence, with even more victims - between dead and wounded.

Dr. Badie stated: “We advised the military to close Mohamed Mahmoud Street. However, SCAF’s ‘too little, too late’ action inflamed the situation even more. With harrowing wounds still bleeding, people started killing each other, although we did warn against extreme actions and against dealing with protests with excessive force.”

He added: "We support people’s rights. We have always defended them, and we will continue to do. We support democracy, and we will continue to defend it. This is why we suffered prosecutions and persecution under the previous regimes."

Dr. Badie explained that: “From the first moment, the MB embraced the families of the martyrs and tasked its ‘Birr’ (magnanimity and social service) department with looking after those families as much as possible. On the day of "protect democracy" million-man march, the MB surrounded families of martyrs to protect them, preventing any harm from touching them in Tahrir Square. However, certain hands orchestrated these events to drag the people into a trap of their making. Those must be held accountable.

The MB Chairman said: “Fair-minded people in Tahrir Square assured us that the scene and events there were expertly ‘booby-trapped’, and that the Brotherhood's decision was 100% correct. They witnessed, in the Square, a strange uncontrollable and uncontrolled mix of people and actions, contrived crises and brutal murderous thuggery.”
He stressed that the Brotherhood’s refusal to partake in Tahrir Square violence is conclusive evidence that they put the interests of the country above the interests of their own candidates in the elections, despite all they suffered, with people misunderstanding their position and attacking, criticising and slandering them, and “despite some claiming that we lost our popularity in the street.”

He then said: "We are ready to sacrifice ourselves, not the People's Assembly or anyone else, for the great Egyptian people – to safeguard their freedom and dignity. The brutal action taken against the demonstrators is clearly a murderous crime that shed the blood of our precious and dear brothers. The punishment for such action is in the Holy Quran: the taking of one life is like killing all people (see Quranic Chapter 5, Al-Ma’ida: Verse 32)

On the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood in “Al-Aqsa Friday” demonstration at Al-Azhar mosque and the charges made against the Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Badie said: "We joined “Al-Aqsa Friday” demonstration in response an invitation from ‘the popular campaign against the Judaisation of Jerusalem’ on behalf of the Egyptian people. We certainly were not preoccupied or distracted away from the great Egyptian public. We carry the concerns of this homeland, Egypt, and the whole world, just like ‘Amana’ (the trust) carried by the Holy Prophet of Islam and Muslims."

The MB Chairman stressed that the bullying, violence, arson, banditry and other events are intended to disrupt and derail the democratic movement in Egypt, so it would never reach its destination or achieve its goal of restoring the right of the Egyptian people to freedom and dignity.

Dr. Badie continued: "The enemies of Egypt tried this more than once, but failed; because the Egyptian people gathers around again, finding no alternative to unite in the face of all those who plot and try to take away their rights. The fate of those who plot against Egypt and its people is that their endeavours will badly backfire, true to the meaning: “Evil scheming falls only upon those who scheme it” (see Quranic Chapter 35, Fatir: Verse 43).

With regard to the performance of SCAF, Badie confirmed that the people’s confidence is running out, and needs ‘topping up’: “We do hope such a ‘top-up’ is on the way. There are good signs of truthfulness in the time-table announced by the Field-Marshal, and we hope these are carried through.”

He said: “We have no deal with the army. We only have two deals: the first is with God Almighty, seeking Paradise – for He is our Lord, our destination – while the second is with the people of this homeland – we have lived with them, sacrificed for them and we have always offered our blood, our lives to defend their rights."

He added that SCAF is required to give a super-strong dose of assurance to restore confidence in the military. First and foremost, it should commit to the announced time-table, without slowing down or back-pedalling. Badie pointed out that slow administration and delays in decision-making stretch the transition period in a manner which the MB finds totally unacceptable.

He stressed that the real decision and sovereignty must be of the people, for the people is Egypt’s greatest asset. He called upon the people to take possession of their own history, and to teach the whole world yet again, by effective participation in the elections, just as they taught the world with the blessed revolution.

Dr. Badie assured the Egyptian people of the procedures set to protect the elections, adding that MB delegates are keen to protect votes, guard ballot boxes and secure voting stations.

He said: “We will not relent in protecting people's right to vote, for whoever wishes to come out and cast his/her vote. We will protect and guard ballot boxes, and we will continue to do so; and we will be witnesses overlooking the whole electoral process."

Addressing foreign powers, the MB Leader asserted that those should bet on the Arab peoples alone, and stop supporting existing dictatorships.