Feed: Egyptian unrest: ‘Muslim Sisterhood’ takes to the streets - AggScore: 12.9

Egyptian unrest: ‘Muslim Sisterhood’ takes to the streets

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caption id alignalignleft width210 captionThe Muslim Brother is the largest radical group in Egypt. Photo Global Securityimg srchttpcdn2b.examiner.comsitesdefaultfilesstyleslargehash00dd00dd25f3790a19c3f48d4339d3d2b454.jpg alt width210 height170 captionblockquoteemstrongA special womens unit within the banned radical group Muslim Brotherhood is operating in Egypt and possibly other Arab nations.strongemblockquoteThe troubling political and civilturmoil today in Egypt, while cloaked in the rhetoric of reform, is an impending victory for the terrorists of the Egyptianbased Muslim Brotherhood.What appears to be solely a male uprising, a special womens unit within the banned radical group Muslim Brotherhood is operating in Egypt and possibly other Arab nations, according to a counterterrorism report obtained by the Terrorism Committee of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.The report states that when the deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ezzat, was arrested with other members of the alQaedaaffiliated group, investigators uncovered evidence of a group of women who serve as mules to deliver messages and act as messengers for the terrorist group.According to Middle East reports, the secret sisterhood is being likened to a group of female terror group members that operated in the 1960s, especially in operations targeting Israel.Sayyid Qutb, an early Brotherhood leader, taught that Muslim society had turned its back on Islam and had to return to its roots. He advocated violent revolution in order to overthrow secular governments and restore Islamic rule. He was captured, tried and executed by the Egyptian government in 1966.While the group itself is outlawedin Egypt, security experts say that individual members of the ultrasecret Muslim Brotherhood may be among the candidates running for government office in the recent national elections in 2010.The womens secret unit was created much in the same way that the Muslim Brotherhood was founded, according to U.S. intelligence sources.While the radical Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, it is praised by many Egyptians and government officials wink at its continuing activism. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the Brotherhoods candidates, who can only stand as independents, won 88 seats 20 of the total to form the largest opposition bloc, despite many violations of the electoral process, including the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members. Meanwhile, the legally approved opposition parties won only 14 seats. This revived the debate within the Egyptian political elite about whether the Brotherhood should remain banned.The history of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt following its founding in 1928 has been one of huge growth followed by successive government crackdowns.Both royal and nationalist Egyptian governments suppressed the Brotherhood in 1948, 1954, 1965 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. Periodic suppressions have continued even after the Brotherhood officially renounced violence in the 1970s.Today it is illegal but tolerated as Egypts most popular and powerful nongovernmental organization, according to security experts.