Dissident member expects ‘disappearance’ of Jamma Islamiyya of Egypt within 5 years!

Cairo – The dDissident member of the Building and Development Party Montasser Omran described the recent elections witnessed in his party as a sham, stressing the need for separating the political party from Jammaa Islamiyya (the Islamic Group).

Leading member of Jamma Islamiyya Tarek al-Zumar recently won the elections, becoming head of the Building and Development Party, the political arm of the Islamist group. The elections were held on Saturday.

Need for Separation

Omran, a founding member of the party, stressed that the major reason behind his call for separation between the party and the group is the lack of young candidates. He said, during an interview with Al Bawaba News, that he expects Jamaa Islamiyya will disappear in five years time, due to its policies and lack of young members qualified to lead the group in the future.

He added that he submitted his resignation from the party after Zomar’s win of the elections, saying that officials of Jamma Islamiyya in each governorate were responsible for choosing the members of the party’s committees in the governorate. He said that he submitted a complaint against the elections to the Parties Committee in Egypt.

Tarek al-Zomar is an Egyptian Islamist politician and the Secretary-General of the Building and Development Party. The party also has a non-political wing named al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya.[1] He was also a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. His cousin is Abbud al-Zumar, who was imprisoned along with him.

Blunt violation

Omran said that he documented his complaint in Armant police station, calling on the Egyptian authorities to annul the results of the elections and to suspend the party’s activities. He underlined that Al-Zomar does not have the right to run for the election, saying that his participation is considered a clear violation against the rules drafted by the party’s director general that prohibits any fugitive prisoner to run in elections.

Al-Zomar was imprisoned in 1984 following the assassination of Anwar El-Sadat, Egypt’s former president, and was released in 2011. On July 14, 2013 Egypt’s prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen. Al-Zomar later on fled to Qatar. 

Omran stressed the need for separation of the party on one hand and Jamma Islamiyya on the other, saying that the Shura Council should abandon any role in the political party. He added that the Egyptian citizens should be allowed to participate in the party with no discrimination, including women who should perform a major role in the party.

He pointed out that the people who were heading the party during this current period are from the Shami leadership that draft policies upon the principle of hearing and obedience from the members to sheikhs.

He highlighted the contradictions between the party’s statements and its actual policies, saying that in their statements they stress their keenness to protect the state institutions, while they choose controversial leaders known for their anti-state positions.

Security permission

Omran continued by explaining that the presence of the party is nearly non-existent outside its headquarters, saying that they were in control of a large number of mosques which have currently withdrawn their support from them. He added that the group uses the party only as a political interface from their headquarters in Cairo and Alexandria.

He revealed that the party sent a letter to the security authorities asking them for permission to hold the elections, expressing his astonishment that the number one enemy [referring to Al-Zomor] of the state managed to gain the leadership of a political party. He added that a large number of the group’s members are still committed to the initiative to stop violence that was in 1997, while others violated the initiative by becoming fugitives and/or joining terrorist groups in both Syria and Iraq.