Brotherhood members in Turkey living under threat of coronavirus infection

Doaa Emam

Muslim Brotherhood media figures keep spreading false news about Egypt, using media outlets broadcast or published from Istanbul, under sponsorship from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Nevertheless, the same figures look over the suffering ordinary Turkish citizens sustain under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Development Party.

Instead, they use the coronavirus pandemic in a political manner, namely by attacking Egyptian authorities.

Corona-infected hosts

Some of the Muslim Brotherhood TV hosts and broadcasters have contracted the coronavirus, including Mekameleen channel host Hossam al-Shorbagi who wrote on Twitter on April 11 that he had already caught the disease.

This announcement caused fear to spread among other Muslim Brotherhood media figures who have seen coronavius infections rise to alarming rates across Turkey. So far, Turkey reported over 50,000 coronavirus infections and over 1,000 deaths.

Al-Shorbagi also wrote on Facebook that Turkish health specialists had asked him to isolate himself at home for 14 days. He added that his family members might have had contracted the infection from him.

Bahgat Saber, a loud-mouthed Brotherhood activist living in New York, also said that he had contracted the virus while in Turkey. Saber wrote about his infection on Facebook, asking his followers to pray for him.

Saber posted a video earlier, in which he asked Muslim Brotherhood members infected with the coronavirus to pass on the infection to other Egyptians, especially army officers and policemen.

Brotherhood Ghetto in Turkey

The presence of an Egyptian-Brotherhood ghetto in Turkey gives fears of a wider spread of the contagion among the members of this enclave.

This comes amid reports that a large number of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood had contracted the coronavirus.

Those working for the Muslim Brotherhood channels in Turkey have formed their own closed community, hence infection fears.

Benefactors

Islamist affairs specialist Ibrahim Rabie said the Muslim Brotherhood fights tooth and nail to please Turkey.

The group and its members do this by spreading false news about Egypt, using all types of media, Rabie told The Reference.

He added that Muslim Brotherhood media figures especially use the coronavirus to criticize Egypt.