 |
| Source |
A delegation including senior exiled members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and two people with a history of open support for Hamas lobbied senators Wednesday.
The delegation requested a meeting with several senators, a Senate source told the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)
The delegation sought help in restoring former President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt. Morsi-era parliamentarians, government ministers and judges formed the Egyptian Revolutionary Council in Istanbul, Turkey last August with the aim of toppling Egypt's military government. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The delegation arrived in Washington Monday and will leave Thursday, according to a brief provided to the Senate offices. A Facebook post Wednesday by former Egyptian Judge Waleed Sharaby showed him alongside fellow delegation members on Capitol Hill.
The delegation also includes Sarwat Nafei, a self-described liberal elected as speaker of the Egyptian parliament in exile; Maha Azzam, head of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council; Abdul Mawgoud Dardery, an exiled Muslim Brotherhood member and Egyptian parliamentarian; and Mohammed Gamal Heshmat, an exiled member of the Muslim Brotherhood's shura council and Egyptian parliamentarian.
Sharaby's Facebook page shows him at the State Department on Monday. In a Facebook posting Thursday, Heshmat claimed he met with "a representative of the White House" as well. "The voice of the Egyptian revolution must be loud everywhere," he wrote.
Sharaby and Heshmat have openly expressed support for Hamas.
Mohammed Gamal Heshmat, second from the left, with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal.
|
He told the IPT that he met Meshaal during a conference in Doha, Qatar last June, and said he did not have a "continuous relationship" or a "dark relationship" with the terrorist leader.
The Saudi tabloid Al-Madina slammed the State Department meeting Wednesday, calling the delegation "terrorists." Saudi officials labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group last year.
The State Department defended the meeting in an email to the IPT. "We meet with representatives from across the political spectrum in Egypt."
Before coming to Washington, Dardery, Sharaby and Heshmat participated in a forum in New Jersey sponsored by Egyptian Americans for Freedom and Justice, which an Egyptian newspaper describes as a "Brotherhood organization." The forum was also attended by noted Islamist leader Mohammed Qatanani.
Heshmat and Sharaby arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 20, according to the Facebook page of Egyptian Americans for Freedom and Justice.
Appearing at an event Tuesday sponsored by the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) at the National Press Club, Azzam called the discussions with the State Department "fruitful." Read the full story here.
2 days after Muslim Brotherhood was at State Department, group issues statement on their (Arabic) website calling for jihad in #Egypt.
— Julie Lenarz (@MsIntervention) January 30, 2015Surprise! MT @Samueltadros: Visit of Brotherhood delegation was organized and funded by Georgetown University http://t.co/5G9vggzE6u
— Jonathan Schanzer (@JSchanzer) January 30, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment