Islamists flay both Egyptian ‘coup’ and Brotherhood’s attempt at democracy
Ennahda Party in Tunisia condemns ‘flagrant coup’ in Cairo; Somalian terror group says overthrow proves change comes from ‘bullet not ballot’
Tunisia’s ruling Islamists condemned the military overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi Thursday, calling it a “flagrant coup.”
Tunisia’s Ennahda Party has its origins in the same Muslim Brotherhood whose government was ousted Wednesday in Egypt.
Ennahda dominated elections held here after Tunisians ousted their dictator in January 2011 and kicked off pro-democracy uprisings elsewhere, including Egypt.
Thursday’s statement by Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi condemned the arrests of the leaders of Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party — an arm of the Brotherhood — and the closing of its media outlets.
The statement expressed astonishment at the political forces supporting the Egyptian army’s action, which it said undermined democracy in the country and would feed radicalism.
Unlike its Egyptian counterparts, Ennahda has been ruling in a coalition with secular parties.
In Somalia, the al-Shabaab terror group also slammed the overthrow, and said Egypt’s experiment with democracy proved that Islamists should use the violence, rather than democracy, to take power.
The Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab on Thursday blasted the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and said that the coup in Egypt shows that
Posting on its Twitter account, the group wrote that “change comes by the bullet alone; NOT the ballot.”
The Muslim Brotherhood “should perhaps learn a little from the lessons of history and those ‘democratically elected’ before them in Algeria or even Hamas,” wrote the al-Qaeda-linked group, which has held a grip over swathes of Somalia for several years.
In Algeria, the military canceled the 1992 elections after the Islamic Salvation Front won the first two rounds of elections. The civil war that ensued between the group and the Algerian army lasted more than five years and claimed upwards of 100,000 lives.
The Hamas government was elected in 2006 to govern in the Gaza Strip, but has faced wide-spread international isolation.
Al-Shabaab rhetorically asked when the Muslim Brotherhood will “wake up from their deep slumber and realize the futility of their efforts at instituting change.” The group added that the overthrow of Morsi marks the death knell of the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that it will “never…see the light of day again.”
