Egypt parliamentary mission visits London today to warn against ‘political Islam’

An Egyptian delegation including 12 MPs affiliated with parliament’s foreign affairs committee will visit London Sunday to exchange views with British politicians and MPs on political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and relations between Egypt and England.

Dahlia Youssef, head of the Egyptian-British Parliamentary Friendship Association, said in a statement Saturday that the five-day visit to London will begin on Sunday and end Thursday.

“This visit comes upon an invitation from the British House of Commons, whose two delegations visited Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh over the last three months,” said Youssef.

Youssef also indicated that “the UK House of Commons’ release of a report which defends political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood on 7 November also makes the Egyptian parliamentary delegation’s visit to London highly necessary and urgent.”

The Egyptian parliament’s foreign affairs committee issued a 10-page report on 19 November in response to the UK parliament’s “defence of political Islam.”

Informed sources said Egypt’s report entitled “A response to the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s report in defence of political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood” was translated into several European languages.

“We intend to submit this report which rings alarm bells about the danger of the spread of political Islam movements like the Muslim Brotherhood across Western Europe to the European Parliament, the Inter-parliamentary Union, the UK House of Commons, the German Bundestag, and the French National Assembly,” said Youssef.

Youssef said “it is important that European politicians and MPs take a different perspective from a country which has suffered so much from political Islam and its affiliated groups – particularly the Muslim Brotherhood.”

She added that “most European politicians and MPs take their information about political Islam from the Western media and American think tanks, which always like to describe political Islam movements as victims of Arab dictatorships and that if the Arab governments are democratic and political Islam movements are integrated into their political process, everything will be OK and political Islam will be a democratic power.”

“The Egyptian parliament’s report aims to expose this big lie about political Islam in terms of showing that the ideology of political Islam makes it immune to any political democratic integration and this was made clear by the experiences of political Islam in recent years in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey,” said Youssef.

The report – which accuses the UK House of Commons of doing its best to exonerate the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated terrorist and militant groups of the charge of terrorism – also warns that “political Islam movements claim victimhood and repression as a cover to spread in Western Europe.”

“This is another big lie, but the problem is that some liberal politicians and MP in Western Europe give an ear to these false claims and thus give a cover to this malignant tumour to spread in Europe and America like cancer,” said the report, which describes political Islam movements as “foxes in disguise.”

Youssef said the Egyptian parliament is ready to provide UK politicians and MPs with all the documents necessary to prove the dangers of the ideology of political Islam, which is based on “Islamicising the entire world” either by militant jihad or by spreading a strict code of Islam across the world.

“If they are really keen to know what political Islam is, they must show interest and learn lessons from the country which has suffered so much from this malignant tumour,” said Youssef.

Youssef said the visit will also include meetings with a number of British think tanks, members of the media covering tourism issues, and Egyptian expatriates in England.

Youssef said the meetings in London could also comprise topics like the importance of the British government lifting the embargo on direct British flights to the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh as well as economic conditions in Egypt.

The Egyptian parliament’s foreign affairs committee began a visit to Germany last Monday which included meetings with the head of the German Bundestag foreign affairs committee Norbert Rutgen, representatives from the ruling coalition in Germany, and leftist MPs.

“The delegation also held meetings with officials from the German foreign ministry and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy national security advisor.”

Source: Ahram Online