Arabic media is reporting that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has appointed a 70-year-old British-educated ophthalmologist as its new leader. According to the Al Arabiya report:
Mohammad Hekmat Walid
November 7, 2014 Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s political adversaries in exile, has appointed a 70-year-old British-educated ophthalmologist as its new leader.
The Brotherhood’s council elected Mohammad Hekmat Walid for a four-year term in a vote Thursday in Istanbul, where the Syrian opposition in exile is based, a statement said.
Walid, who hails from the regime stronghold of Latakia, is the 12th leader of the Syrian Brotherhood, which was formed at the start of the 1940s but banned in the 1980s after an uprising against Assad’s father.
Membership of the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria.
Walid has taught at a number of medical schools overseas, including in Ireland and Saudi Arabia.
Another source of unknown reliability provides further biographical detail on Mohammad Hekmat Walid:
Walid, 70 year-old, is a veteran physician with PHD degree and member of the General Secretariat of opposition’s National Council as well he is the Chairman of the National Democratic Party for Justice and Constitution (Waed). The new ‘observer’ will be the first leader born in Latakia, Bashar al-Assad hometown.
The GMBDW reported in April 2013 that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood was planning to open offices inside Syria for the first time since it was quashed by then Syrian President Hafez Assad in 1982. In May 2013 , we reported that the Syrian Brotherhood had opened direct contact with opposition groups.
The GMBDW has discussed a number of reports relating to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood including:
In November 2013, an interview with Ali Sadreddine Al-Bayanouni, the leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood from 1996 to 2010.
In October 2013, the author of a recently released history of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood published an article that looked at the armed wing established by the Syrian Brotherhood.
In August, 2013 the same author published an article which looked at the current status of the Syrian Brotherhood.
For a comprehensive account of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood as of 2006, go here.
For Lefèvre’s recently released book on the history of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, go here.
For an article which looks at some of the differences between the Syrian and Egyptian Brotherhoods, go here.
