Britain will not list Muslim Brotherhood as 'terrorist organisation'

Britain will not list Muslim Brotherhood as 'terrorist organisation'
UK diplomatic sources say that no official statement will be made on the Jenkins report on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood.
2 min read
16 January, 2015
Muslim Brotherhood leaders are on trial in Egypt [Getty]
The Muslim Brotherhood will not be proscribed by the British government, it has emerged, as the findings of a report into the activities of the organisation continue to be withheld.

UK diplomatic sources in Cairo told al-Araby al-Jadeed that no official statement would be made with regards to the investigation, which the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, was tasked with conducting.

The delay, and apparent indefinite postponement, in the publication of the report is believed to be because it has exonerated the Muslim Brotherhood - something that would anger Britain's Gulf allies, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both countries have designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.

The source said that, while the UK had not blacklisted the Brotherhood, which was ousted from power in Egypt by a coup in July 2013, it will "monitor some Islamic figures and organisations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in light of the paranoia of a terror attack that is gripping the whole of Europe".

Muhammed Soudan, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member based in London, said that the movement had no new information on the report.

"We have not been contacted by any official from [British Prime Minister David] Cameron's government to tell us that any steps will be taken against individuals or the organisation's activities," Soudan told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Soudan added that there was a lot of sympathy from European officials for the Egyptian opposition, but that they had to follow the official policies of their governments, which deal with Egypt's president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

In December, the Financial Times reported that the Jenkins report would not be published in full, and that a summary was likely to be released instead.

Cameron announced the investigation in April last year, and the report was scheduled to be published in July.

Jenkins is believed to have met several Muslim Brotherhood leaders during his investigation of the organisation, founded in Egypt in 1928. These include the head of the Tunisian Ennahdha Party, Rachid Ghannouchi, the head of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, Homam Bin Saeed, and prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader Ibrahim Mounir - as well as leaders in the Moroccan Justice and Development Party.

Britain has long been a base for Muslim Brotherhood members in exile, something that anti-Brotherhood Gulf states have pressured the British government to put a stop to.

Late last year, the Emirati authorities placed several UK-based organisations, such as the Muslim Association of Britain and the charity Islamic Relief, on its terror list.