After UK investigation start, Muslim Brotherhood Org has decided to transfer their offices to Austria and three other unidentified European cities.

After UK investigation start, Muslim Brotherhood Org has decided to transfer their offices to Austria and three other unidentified European cities. HT: TGMBR.

Egyptian media is reporting that based on inside sources, the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood has decided to transfer their offices to Graz, Austria and three other unidentified European cities following the announcement of an investigation into the Brotherhood’s activities in the UK. Highlights from a translated summary of the Youm7.com Arabic language report include:

• A meeting was held featuring Ibrahim Munir, Ibrahim Salah, and Dr. Mahmoud Hussein who were identified as the permanent members of the International Organization together with 17 unidentified new members.

• The three permanent members agreed to transfer their offices to Graz, Austria and other three European countries following the announcement of the British inquiry into Muslim Brotherhood activities in the UK.

• The meeting focused on the latest developments in Egypt, the development of a new strategy to stop the expected May elections for Presidency, and a new website created to expose the flaws in the election.

• Members of the International Organization have been holding meetings in Brussels with senior European figures aimed at persuading the European Parliament to put pressure on Egypt regarding the treatment of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egyptian prisons.

• The International Organization is in the process of establishing the “Jihadi Internet Army” and the “Rabia Army”  aimed at destroying Egyptian banks and other state institutions.

The GMBDW reported earlier this week that Ibrahim Munir had warned that banning the Brotherhood in the UK would lead to an increased risk of terrorism. We reported last week that Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an inquiry into the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Kingdom.

The choice of Graz as the location for a Muslim Brotherhood headquarters may seem odd to some but as a report on the history of the US Muslim Brotherhood has noted, self-described Brotherhood  “Foreign Minister” Youssef Nada and the late US Muslim Brotherhood leader Ahmed Elkadi were both living in Graz in the 1960’s. In addition, European Muslim Brotherhood leader Ayman Aly, formerly a top advisor to deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, had been a long-time resident of Graz.Read the full story and more here.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood releases lengthy statement condemning violence.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood releases lengthy statement condemning violence. (AlAhram).

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood issued a lengthy statement Tuesday evening in which it condemned violence and claimed the group had adhered to strictly peaceful means of struggle throughout its history – distancing itself from anyone who acted otherwise. "[The Brotherhood's] activity and struggle against corruption and despotism is based on absolute peacefulness and the rejection of violence in all its forms and putting up with the harm, detentions, killing, torture and oppression [the group] suffers," read the statement, which was written by the Brotherhood's Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein.

The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation by Egyptian authorities last December, despite the group's repeated denial of any links to attacks against Egyptian police and army forces after the ouster of Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July.

"Thousands of Egyptians were killed and the Brotherhood stood at the centre of the killings, but none of them raised a weapon against their murderers," the statement said.

Citing media statements by former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 1990s era interior minister Hassan El-Alfy and other officials who stated that the Brotherhood was not violent, the group argued that it was peaceful, even at times when the government was confronting militant Islamists, which the Brotherhood said it had condemned for their violent attacks.

The Brotherhood has announced "tens of times" that they engage in political life through legitimate means under the auspices of the law and the constitution, the statement said, adding that the group also contributes generously to social causes.

"This is not a matter of politics and manoeuvring," the statement read; "it is a matter of faith." The statement included Quranic verses to support its claims.

The Brotherhood went further by clearly stating that anyone who engages in violence is at odds with the group.

"The Muslim Brotherhood announces – clearly and without hesitation – that it is innocent of any form and source of violence and condemns all forms and sources of terrorism," the group said.

Those who spill innocent blood are "partners in wrongdoing and mired in sin", it said, calling on perpetrators to cease violence immediately.

The group stressed that these peaceful values are part of its doctrine, the ruling principles of its thought and activities and not an individual tendency.

"Whoever distances himself [from these principles] has drawn for himself a path different from the path of the Muslim Brotherhood," the group stated.

Thousands of Brotherhood members and the group's top leadership are currently in jail pending trials. Most charges include inciting or carrying out violence and belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Most of the major terrorist attacks in Egypt since Morsi's ouster have been claimed by the militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM). No links between ABM and the Brotherhood have been proven so far.

Last week, the UK government launched investigations into the Brotherhood's activities after British intelligence announced possible links between the group and a bombing in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in February.

"The Brotherhood was surprised at the latest remarks, since all successive British governments had always been the most expertly informed about the group's positions and peaceful approach," the Brotherhood responded in a statement on Wednesday.