Canada ‘concerned’ about Muslim Brotherhood
Foreign Minister John Baird’s comments come three weeks after the UK ordered a review of the group’s activities.
Canada has expressed concern about the Muslim Brotherhood, the group, which is a target of a relentless crackdown by Egypt’s military-installed authorities.
At a press conference in Cairo on Thursday, Foreign Minister John Baird said he was “tremendously concerned” about the group, adding that its designation of the group would be made on “facts and intel”.
Last summer, former president Mohamed Morsi, a member of Brotherhood, was removed from office in a military coup by former army chief, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The group has seen more than 1400 of its supporters killed and most of its leaders jailed or flee in to exile.
Baird’s comments come less than a month after British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a review into the group’s activities for its “alleged links to violent extremism”.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office had previously warned that proscribing the Brotherhood would enforce the argument made by religious fighters that armed struggle was more effective than the political process.
In December, Egyptian authorities declared the group a “terrorist organisation” and in March, Saudi Arabia and the UAE followed suit. However, the group rejects accusations of violence.
A senior member of the organisation, Mohamed Soudan, who fled to England after the coup last summer, told Al Jazeera that the Brotherhood had “nothing to hide”.