EGYPT: Granddaughter of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna says group resisting violence

Record ID: 565273

  • Title: EGYPT: Granddaughter of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna says group resisting violence
  • Date: 14th April 2014
  • Summary: MANSOURA, EGYPT (FILE - DECEMBER 24, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DAMAGED SECURITY HEADQUARTERS AFTER SUICIDE CAR BOMB ATTACK
  • Embargoed: 29th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA4AII5K7G5UR604LIDSPL41Q74
  • Story Text: With most of the senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders in jail, the granddaughter of the group's founder, Hassan al-Banna, has emerged as one of the few influential figures still able to operate openly.
    Wafaa Hefny, who says she keeps a spare bed in her apartment always ready for friends on the run, is not your average English literature professor.
    In her spare time, the 47-year-old academic is trying to save the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed group that Egypt's army-backed authorities brand a "terrorist group", by ensuring it remains committed to peaceful change and rejects violence.
    The government has launched one of the fiercest crackdowns on the group in its 80 year history since elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the army in July following mass protests against him.
    The security forces killed over 1,500 pro-Mursi protesters when they cleared two sit-ins by the Brotherhood backed president in August and in clashes with protesters in the following months.
    Thousands more have been arrested, severely hampering the group's ability to function.
    Militants have launched a wave of bombing and shooting attacks on police and soldiers, killing over 500 according to the government.
    While the authorities place the blame squarely on the Brotherhood, the group's leaders like Wafaa Hefny say they are sticking firmly to peaceful resistance.
    "This [violence] does not happen with the Muslim Brotherhood youth. I refute this completely. Why? Because we are a disciplined group and a group that had a good upbringing. Our manners do not tolerate violence. However, some of the youth out in the field are promoting these ideas. As an alliance [the anti-coup alliance], I am now speaking on behalf of the alliance because I can see that they are striving towards the same thing that the Brotherhood are -- to contain this way of thought, to warn against it and repudiate it because if this revolution is to succeed it has to be peaceful," she said.
    With Brotherhood leaders including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie languishing in jail the Brotherhood has been arguably more rudderless than at any point it its history.
    But Hefny dismisses reports of a conflict between younger supporters and the older generation of leaders as the group struggles with its most significant challenge since her grandfather founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928.
    "The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood are in jail. We are unable to communicate with those leaders. However, the Muslim Brotherhood are an organisation that has systems to replace those who are not present. There has to be continuity in a transitional period and this is called bringing together the old and new [generations], which is considered a unique part in the transitional period," she said.
    To give the young an outlet to let off steam, Hefny said she organises clandestine meetings where they can use social media, write film scripts and design anti-government logos.
    Hefny also directed a play starring Brotherhood youth which had a simple and ambitious plot: the movement would one day return to power and Sisi would face a court martial.
    While many political observers have written off the Brotherhood, Hefny is optimistic. The sharp divisions that existed in society immediately following Mursi's fall have largely vanished, she said, thanks to the group's efforts to unite with other government opponents.
    And she believes most Egyptians are unhappy that Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the general who deposed Mursi, has decided to run for President.
    "When truthfully observing the reality of the Egyptian people now, society is not as polarised as it was before. The division in the Egyptian society is decreasing. People are sympathizing with the Muslim Brotherhood a lot. If free and fair elections were held [the brotherhood] would win. Everyone is extremely disappointed that al-Sisi is running for president, whether they are Islamists or non-Islamist. This decision is irrational. Anyone who enjoys an above average education in Egypt should be disappointed by this move," she said.
    Most analysts expect al-Sisi to easily win the upcoming elections that are scheduled for late May. Al-Sisi is still broadly popular, and has ridden a wave of nationalism in the wake of Mursi's fall and the government's self-proclaimed 'war on terror'.
    But while Hefny is careful to distance the Brotherhood from violence, supporters of the government say they are most likely deeply involved.
    Retired General, Seif ElYazal, says the Brotherhood have a vested interest in disrupting the government's political roadmap.
    "When you look for the beneficiary, you know who is behind this event [the violence]. Who is the only beneficiary today, from trying to obstruct the roadmap, the presidential elections and who wants to take us backwards, to bring the past and history back? Who wants to get back the rule that was deposed by the people and public opinion? The only beneficiary to this is the Muslim Brotherhood," he said.
    And while the Brotherhood's Wafaa Hefny credits the emerging young leaders with plotting an effective strategy for peaceful resistance, strategic analyst ElYazal says that on the contrary they are determined to prove their metal through armed resistance.
    "There are new leaders, the leaders of the fourth tier and not even the third tier. The fourth tier wants to assume leadership and have a history in the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore when they increase violence they will gain the satisfaction or the blessing of the international Muslim Brotherhood organisation and prove themselves and be able to say that when the old leaders of the organisation were arrested, we are the new leaders who are able to carry the flag, and to continue pressuring the Egyptian people," he said.
    Egyptian authorities have not provided evidence to back their accusations that the Brotherhood is involved in terrorism, observers say younger members are losing patience with the movement's traditional pacifism.
    But the Brotherhood's Hefny says that when young people turn to violence the blame must be placed squarely on the government and the security forces, who Human Rights groups accuse of widespread abuses since the interim government took over after the overthrow of Mursi.
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