The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has announced that in the wake of the decision by the electoral commission to exclude Khairat Al-Shater as a presidential candidate, they will be supporting Mohamed Morsi instead. According the announcement:
Wednesday, April 18,2012 14:35IkhwanWeb The Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) have announced that they are still in the race for the presidency of the Republic. Their second candidate, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, will adopt the same approach and program of Khairat Al-Shater who has just been excluded from the race. Dr. Morsi will aim to achieve the higher interests of the homeland and fight for people’s rights. In a statement issued by the Brotherhood and the FJP, Tuesday evening, they reiterated that they have a comprehensive renaissance project for Egypt that covers all fields and sectors, and is capable of taking Egypt to safety shores of stability, security and prosperity.The following is a translation of the joint statement of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party:
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
The Muslim Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party received with shock and dismay the decision of the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) to reject the appeal filed by Khairat Al-Shater, the candidate chosen by the Brotherhood and the FJP for the presidential elections. This is especially shocking since the decision to refuse the appeal came after the submission of all legal arguments and precedents as well as judicial rulings, including interpretation of the Supreme Military Court’s exoneration of Al-Shater. Although his legal defense team made very convincing case, and included in its arguments detailed analysis of the last military case relied upon by SPEC in its decision to exclude Al-Shater from the initial ‘candidate list’, SPEC rejected the appeal. In recognition of the seriousness and grave importance of the current phase of Egypt’s history, the Muslim Brotherhood and the FJP declare that they will continue the competition for the presidency of the Republic with their candidate Dr. Mohamed Morsi, with the same approach and program, aiming to achieve the higher interests of the homeland and uphold and safeguard the rights of all Egyptian people. The organization and the party emphasize that they have a powerful project for revival of the homeland that covers all fields and sectors. Our candidate will carry forth this project, which is supported by the Egyptian people, and which both the Brotherhood and the FJP seek to implement in order to cross with Egypt to safety and stability, where it shall assume its rightful place among nations and peoples of the world.The Muslim Brotherhood
The Freedom and Justice Party
Cairo – April 17, 2012
According to a subsequent announcement, Mr. Al-Shater has given his support to Dr. Morsi.
In 2007, Dr. Morsi made remarks covered on the official Brotherhood website which were timed for the sixth anniversary of the 911 attacks and which illustrate several of the anti-American and anti-Semitic themes common throughout the global Muslim Brotherhood According to the report, Dr. Mori first condemned the attacks but then launched immediately into a criticism of the U.S response, even seeming to raise a question about the identity of the attackers:
Immediately after 9/11 attacks happened six years ago, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group condemned them, seeing them as totally divorced from any religion or creed, actions which are totally rejected by Islam. However, the oppressive aftermaths and repercussions committed throughout the past six years by the US administration deserve another condemnation.From the very beginning, the Muslim Brotherhood group has frankly denounced these attacks. We do not approve carrying out attacks against safe peoples or demolishing houses. “These attacks were a wrong act which we denounce regardless of its doer”…
Dr. Morsi then goes on to explain what he later calls the ” current terrorism against mankind” carried out by the U.S. even comparing the U.S. attack on Iraq with Pearl Harbor:
Mohamed Morsi sees that the US administration is currently the world”s terrorism leader that intimidates civilians with through invasions, and using unconventional weapons…Mohamed Morsi sees that the US administration is currently fighting all Islamic peoples and countries due to the US administration claims that the doers of the 11 September attacks Muslims, without proving such a thing until now. It seizes such incidents as a pretext to achieve its targets, and control wealths of Islamic states, he adds.The US administration”s post-9/11 attitude of invading Islamic states, is fully similar attacking Japan after Pearl Harbr in the Second World War, he sys.
Finally, Dr. Mori criticizes the U.S. designation of Palestinian “resisters” as terrorists and adds a new dimension to Brotherhood propaganda by accusing Israeli forces of “raping women”:
Morsi stresses that the United States hasn”t given a clear definition for the concept of terrorism. The US administration even accused resisters and those defending their land in Palestine of being terrorists, an attitude which the Muslim Brotherhood rejects. Reiterating that the MB fully rejects the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed Morsi said on the other hand that the MB rejects also the exercises committed by the US administration against people all over the world and that this very administration gets in line with Israeli occupation forces in aggression, injustice, encroaching lands and raping women. Morsi pointed out also that there are several polls in Europe revealing that Israel and its supporters are more dangerous to global security than any other kind of terrorism.