Mada Masr quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow H.A. Hellyer on Egypt’s response to the United Kingdom’s Muslim Brotherhood review:
Senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute in London, H.A. Hellyer, explained to Mada Masr that in its attempt to meet diverse political demands, the review’s findings wouldn’t satisfy anyone.
“The Brotherhood won’t be banned or prescribed as a terrorist group, but it has been defined as being linked to extremism. The former won’t satisfy Egypt or the Emiratis, and the latter will anger the Brotherhood,” he explained.
But the findings will place unprecedented scrutiny on the group’s activities in the UK, Hellyer added.
“The policy implications are not directly clear. Certainly, there is more scrutiny on the group than there has ever been in the United Kingdom in its history, but that has been going on irrespective of the review,” he said, adding, “As the broader political arena is more concerned about extremism than it has ever been, the Brotherhood is going to come under greater pressure — even if it is just limited to public messages from the government.”