The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe, has expressed what it says is “profound shock” over this weeks mass sentencing by an Egyptian court of 529 member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The FIOE statement notably identifies only Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie as a Muslim Brotherhood member who it incorrectly identifies as one of those sentenced:
Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe
March 25, 2014. The Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe expresses its profound shock at the ruling by an Egyptian court on Monday, 24 March 2014, sentencing 529 Egyptian public figures to death, after they were subjected to a farcical trial on untenable grounds.
Such a ruling is quite astonishing, and paints a horrendous picture of the state of the judicial system, in a country of Egypt’s stature, buckling under the pressure of the military coup against democracy, freedoms, and the will of the people. The shock is further increased by the fact that the entire court proceedings did not exceed few minutes, after which the shocking and far-fetched verdict was announced to the public; an instruction to commit mass murder against hundreds of personalities.
This step exposes the level of abuses in Egypt, in the era of a ruthless coup against democratic life, and use of a false judiciary, devoid of justice, and denying principles and values, human, moral, and religious. Egypt today is governed by the worst form of military dictatorship, which has no qualms in issuing death sentences en masse, against hundreds of prominent political and social figures, among them, Dr Saad El-Katatni, Speaker of the elected parliament, Dr Mohammed Badie, the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a large number of parliamentarians, scholars, academics, intellectuals, and well-known individuals in Egyptian society.
This court ruling must ring alarms around the entire world, as a precedent that even the most vicious dictatorships have been reluctant to commit in so blatant a manner, which gives an appalling impression ahead of other trials of Egyptian statesmen from the democratic era, at their head, President Dr Muhammad Morsi.
The GMBDW reported earlier this week on the Egyptian mass sentencing. Dr. Badie is currently being tried in another proceeding.
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) claims to be an independent organization representing the interests of Muslims in Europe. In reality, the FIOE is an umbrella group that comprises the global Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Strong links connect FIOE’s leadership central institutions and member organizations to the Brotherhood, as well as to Saudi Arabia. Funding for the FIOE has known to have come largely from Gulf sources, including some of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The FIOE has strong ties to Hamas and Hamas fund-raising organizations, and some FIOE member organizations show evidence of links with Al-Qaida. The FIOE has a headquarters office in Brussels and has had some success in positioning itself as a “dialog partner” for the EU and other important institutions. Ayman Ali, known to have served as the FIOE Secretary-General, was selected in August 2012 as one of Dr. Morsi’s four Presidential advisers.
In February 2013, an Egyptian newspaper identified Dr. Ali as a senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau.
The GMBDW reported in February 2014 that FIOE had elected French Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdallah Benmansour as its new President.
