Kuwaiti media reported in late December of last year that the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood had sharply criticized the Egyptian government’s decision to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. According ot a Kuwait Times report:
Social Reform Society
December 29, 2014 KUWAIT: The Social Reform Society criticized the Egyptian government’s decision to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in a statement released one day after the president of the Kuwaiti charitable organization denied relations with the pan-Arab group.
“We believe that the decision follows Zionist dictations on the insurrectionists,” President Dr Hmoud Al-Roumi said in a statement released Friday. Arguing that the Muslim Brotherhood’s activity “has been proven to be peaceful by international human rights organizations”, Roumi announced that the group supports “the return of legitimacy for the stability of Egypt and protection of lives” there.
Roumi was quoted by Al-Rai daily on Friday as he announced that his group has no political activity and focuses only on charitable and social purposes as per its license. “We support [the Muslim Brotherhood’s]ideology which [Muslim Brotherhood founder] Sheikh Hassan Al-Banna preached,” Roumi said, arguing that this ideology “reflects the moderate understanding of Islam that never endorses violence”.
Despite his vocal support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Roumi reiterated that the Social Reform Society is “a Kuwaiti NGO with no legal or organizational affiliation to any movement or party in Kuwait”. “Our position is for reform and to denounce terrorism practiced by states, groups or individuals,” Roumi said. Friday’s reports indicated that the Kuwaiti government has not received any notice from the Egyptian government with regards to classifying the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group after Egypt announced plans to contact countries signatory to the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism. Members of the Islamic Constitutional Movement, the unannounced political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait, has already criticized the decision to list the group as a terrorist organization.
The GMBDW reported last week that the Kuwaiti Mercy International Association, likely the charity operated under the auspices of the Social Reform Society, had sent aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
A Carnegie Foundation report identifies the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) as the “political arm of the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood” and the Social Reform Society as “the formal organization associated with the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood.”
In January 2012, German media reported that the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood had boycotted the parliamentary elections which were won largely by Shiites. Despite the boycott, the Brotherhood won four seats.
In November 2012, Gulf media reported on comments by the Dubai police chief accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of creating unrest in the UAE. Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan also said that UAE Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested had met with Kuwaiti Brotherhood “mentors” including Tariq Al-Suwaidan.
In January 2013, a Kuwaiti MP alleged that there were Muslim Brotherhood “sleeper cells” operating in Kuwait.
In February 2013, a Turkish news portal reported that the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood was supporting the formation of an opposition alliance.
In November 2013, two Carnegie Foundation analysts posted an article titled “Kuwait’s Muslim Brotherhood Under Pressure” that looks at the current status of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.
