Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Dr. Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, Attorney General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has referred 84 individuals with alleged ties with Muslim Brotherhood to stand trial at Abu Dhabi State Security Court, following a six-month investigation.
The accused face charges of forming a secret organization for the purpose of committing acts of violence and terrorism in the UAE. In May 2023, Jordan handed over Khalaf Abdul Rahman Humaid al-Rumaithi, a wanted man with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, to the UAE.
The UN COP28 climate conference was hosted in the UAE last month, and The Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, a group headed by an Emirati who lives in exile in Istanbul after being named on a terrorism list by the UAE, organized the a protest.
The MB holds the same core beliefs, and platform as AQ and ISIS. They all believe that Islam is the only true religion and that all Kings, monarchies, and dynasties are oppressive and run against Islam. They believe that the only constitution needed is the Koran and Islamic Law fulfills all the need for civil codes. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was the Caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and his group came to be called ISIS
The UAE, and Saudi Arabia, labeled the MB as a terrorist group in 2014, and also banned Jibhat al-Nusra and ISIS. Mohammed al-Julani is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the terrorist organization occupying Idlib, Syria and holding 3 million civilians as human shields. Julani began with Al Qaeda in Iraq, joined ISIS while associating with Baghdadi, and came to Syria to open an ISIS branch, but instead organized Jibhat al-Nusra in Syria, which became the predominate terrorist group fighting the Syrian government , and in 2014 al-Nusra and the US backed FSA has signed an agreement in Idlib.
Once JIbhat al-Nusra came to be labeled a terrorist group, they changed their name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in order to continue to receive US and UN aid.
Idlib is the last place in Syria controlled by terrorists. It is supplied by the UN and other charities with humanitarian supplies, which all pass through the hands of Julani. The US and the EU have protected HTS and their occupation of Idlib, and US mainstream media have visited Julani for interviews where he dressed in a suit and tie in an effort by the US to rebrand him as a leader worthy of western democratic support.
President Donald Trump wanted the MB labeled as a terrorist organization in the US. US Senator Ted Cruz brought two bills to the Congress to outlaw the MB, but failed to get the support of Democrats and Republicans. The MB is everywhere across the US, and their members are often clean-cut productive business persons and academics. Their college degrees and social networks make them among the movers and shakers of American society. In the Obama administration, many of the MB was placed in important positions in US government institutions and many remain there today. America has come to value diversity in the workplace and government, and this was the opportunity for the MB to get their foot in the door. Members of Congress have been lobbied by the MB and their operatives on issues and the narrative they push is that to be opposed to the MB in the US is to be anti-Islam, which is anti-American.
The Muslim Brotherhood began in Egypt and caught hold in Tunisia, Syria and Saudi Arabia. One Saudi became notorious for his hatred of the Saudi monarchy, Osama bin Laden, who was groomed by the CIA while in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet Union occupation army.
Bin Laden’s brand of Radical Islam was named Al Qaeda, but the Muslim Brotherhood shares the same core values and goals. They all seek to dismantle governments everywhere, including the US, and replace them with Islamic law, and the Caliphate.
The Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood began a bloody uprising in Hama in the 1980’s, intent on overthrowing the Hafez al Assad government, but was unsuccessful. In March 2011, US President Barack Obama, and his Vice President Joe Biden, along with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, began a US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change utilizing the Muslim Brotherhood as the political and military backbone of the project.
The Syrian project has failed to achieve Obama’s goals, but was successful in destroying the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and creating the largest Syrian migration to Europe in history.
Clinton funneled the weapons confiscated in Libya directly to Turkey, who was allied with the US on the attack on the Syrian people. Turkey’s leader, Recip Tayip Erdogan is a follower of MB and his AK party is as well.. The political wing of the Syrian opposition went to Istanbul, and the CIA set up their HQ in the south of Turkey under their program called Timber Sycamore, with the task of training, funding and weaponizing the terrorists that Obama and Sen. John McCain were calling the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) and who were followers of the MB.
While Obama sought to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the Syrian relationship with Hezbollah and Iran, the US-sponsored FSA sought to remove a secular government in Damascus and replace it with a MB led government.
Obama had previously been successful in Egypt and Tunisia with the installation of MB leaders in both countries. Since then, both Egypt and Tunisia experienced public outcry and have removed the MB leaders.
Today, just Turkey and Qatar continue to be state-sponsors of the MB. Saudi Arabia stopped their participation in the US-sponsored war on Syria. Saudi Arabia now focuses on the strategic interests of Saudi Arabia, rather than a blind obedience to the dictates coming from the Oval Office.
Turkey and Qatar continue to be hostile to Syria, with Turkish military occupying parts of Syria with both Turkish national army soldiers, and the mercenaries on the Turkish payroll who are following Radical Islam. Qatar continues to voice its opposition to recognizing the legitimate Syrian government in Damascus. Erdogan has said he wants to repair his relationship with Assad, but Damascus has said the military occupation must first cease before any further steps in reconciliation can be achieved.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
