NBC news is reporting on what is described as “signs of fracturing” within the Muslim Brotherhood following the deposition of Mohamed Morsi as Egyptian President. According to the report:
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
July 15, 2013 NBC News CAIRO – Just last month, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood had a lock on Egypt’s presidency and parliament.
Now, after mass protests backed by the country’s military swept President Mohammed Morsi from power, the organization venerated throughout the Muslim world for its discipline, ministry to the needy and rejection of violence is showing signs of fracturing.
A group of about 1,400 within the Brotherhood have launched a petition of no-confidence in Mohamed Badie, the Supreme Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, known as ‘Morshid.’
In Roman Catholic terms, that would be akin to the faithful voting to impeach Pope Francis.
Ahmed Yehia, a lawyer, Brotherhood member and coordinator of the new movement, ‘Brotherhood Without Violence,’ said Morsi abandoned Islam in favor of a naked pursuit of power after he became Egypt’s first democratically elected leader in 2012.
‘After (Morsi’s government) came to power, they changed and forgot about Islam and tolerance and the call to Islam, and entered into a stage of how to protect themselves, find a safe exit and regain power,’ Yehia said on a popular liberal Egyptian satellite channel on Friday.
The breaking point for Yehia came on July 8, the day about 50 Brotherhood protesters and four soldiers were killed in a gun battle outside the Republican Guard Club, where many believe Morsi is being held.
‘None of the (Brotherhood) leaders were there,’ Yehia said during a telephone interview. ‘But the day before, they told protesters, ‘You have to get Morsi out, with our own body and blood.’ And told them to march (on the Republican Guard Club). After morning prayer, Brotherhood sympathizers started violent actions toward the Republican Guard to release Morsi, and the guards responded.’
On Monday Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered the arrest of seven senior Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist figures on charges accusing them of ‘inciting violence, funding violent acts, and thuggery’ during the days before and after Morsi was deposed.
The challenge to the leadership of the Brotherhood — a movement tied to Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party — will probably transform the 85-year-old organization, said Gamal Abdel Gawad, political science professor at the American University of Cairo.
