Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Group

Local Editor

Egypt's interim government officially declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization on Wednesday, blamed it for a bombing this week that killed 16 people, and announced that anyone who is a member of the group will be punished.
Hossam Issa, the interim minister of higher education and a deputy prime minister, announced the Cabinet's decision on state-run al-Masriaya television.

"The government reiterates that there will be no return to the past under any circumstances and Egypt, the state and the people, will never succumb to the terrorism of the Muslim Brotherhood whose crimes have gone far beyond all moral, religious and human limits," he said.

The government also will punish anyone giving the group financial support, Issa added.
Hundreds of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood took to the streets in towns and cities across Egypt after the announcement.

In Alexandria, some protesters threw fireworks at authorities and set fire to police cars as young people marched through the streets chanting "Sisi is a traitor," according to the official Facebook page of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. "Sisi" refers to Egypt's new leader, Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
"The terrorist coup authorities that are agents for the Zionists announced the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists, similar to declaration made against the Palestinian resistance movement by Israel. The coup is terrorism," the group said in an online statement.
Tamarod, the grass-roots political faction responsible for organizing the petition campaign that led to the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi in July by the Egyptian military, issued a statement on its official website.

"The government's decision announcing the Brotherhood group a terrorist organization is a good step, and it came late but better to come late than never," it said.
Issa made the announcement despite the fact that Ansar al-Quds, an extremist group responsible for attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, has claimed responsibility for the attack on a security forces headquarters.

On Sunday, Ansar al-Quds issued an online statement calling on army and police members to quit.
"With your staying in these institutions from evening to morning, you are incurring the anger of Allah," the statement said.

But Issa said it was an "ugly crime" perpetrated by the Brotherhood.
In addition to the 16 people killed in the early morning twin bombings, 130 people were wounded. More than 40 people remained hospitalized Wednesday. CNN first learned of the blasts from Twitter.

The United States issued a strong reaction to the news that the Muslim Brotherhood was labeled as terrorists.
"We think it is essential for Egypt to have an inclusive political process; it is the best means of restoring the stability that the Egyptian people want and that is necessary to the country's economic recovery," said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the US State Department. "There needs to be dialogue and political participation across the political spectrum."

Source: News agencies, Edited by website team