Will US designate Muslim Brotherhood ‘terrorist organization’?

Mohamed Abdel-Ghaffar

News about a US designation to the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group resurfaced after remarks by Thomas H. Goldberger, Charge’ d’Affaires at the US embassy in Cairo, that the United States is considering the possibility to designate Muslim brotherhood as a terrorist group.

This comes within the framework of an Egyptian-US cooperation plan to eradicate terrorism and its sources in the region.

Several indications point that the US government is seeking to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in the coming period by placing it on the US list of foreign terrorist groups.

According to a New York Times article, the White House directed national security and diplomatic officials to find a way to place sanctions on the group after a White House visit on April 9 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt.

In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that the administration was working on designating the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists.

“The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” Ms. Sanders said.

A research paper published by Hudson Institute, the US Congress’ Subcommittee on National Security organized a series of hearings on “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Threat.” The purpose was to determine what dangers the Muslim Brotherhood poses to American interests around the world.

The Muslim Brotherhood, according to Hudson, was described in the congressional hearings as a “a radical Islamist organization that has generated a network of related movements in 70 countries,” including al-Qaeda.

Designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group would only bring negative effect to the group and its devious schemes; the group would face sanctions including financial restrictions and travel bans.

Tony Badran a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, say the main problem in this decision concerns its application, as the question arises as to whether the US will apply it comprehensively to the Brotherhood or to certain branches of it.