Muslim Brotherhood to stay out of Egypt's political transition

Cairo: Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, will not take part in the country’s transitional political process following the ouster of its president by the military, a party advisor said. The party also rejects the transitional roadmap announced by the army after what it called a “coup” that overthrew Mohamed Morsi, the party’s media advisor, Ahmed Sobei, told Xinhua. “The Brotherhood won’t recognise the transitional government, the constitutional declaration or any other procedure resulted from the coup,” Sobei said. [caption id=“attachment_954253” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. AFP.[/caption] Earlier this month, Morsi was ousted by the military in response to mass protests demanding his resignation for his poor performance in his first year in office. A transitional roadmap was then announced, which suspended the constitution, and assigned head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mansour, to temporarily run the country until a new president is elected. Former finance minister Hazem al-Beblawi was announced as caretaker prime minister. Beblawi said the Brotherhood will be part of the political process and that they will be offered some portfolios. However, Sobei said the party would “only consider initiatives to bring things to a right path”, stressing its rejection to a political process brought about by a coup. He said supporters of the party would continue their sit-ins across the country until the return of the “legitimate president”. On the closure of the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo after weapons were found there, Sobei called it a “smear campaign” against the group and its party. On clashes between the armed forces and Morsi’s supporters, Sobei said the political struggle did not to leave any space for Morsi’s backers to express their opinion in a peaceful way. Clashes outside the Republican Guards headquarters left at least 53 people dead and nearly 500 injured. The killings promoted the Brotherhood’s party to call for “an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks”. On its official website, the party has urged the international community to interfere to stop the “massacres” and reject the “coup’s legitimacy” so as to avoid another Syrian crisis. However, Sobei stressed the party did not call for an “uprising against the army” but “against the military coup”. “We appreciate the army and its individuals as part of us, but there is a difference between the army and the leaders who staged the coup,” he said. IANS