The Brotherhood must come clean

The Islamist organisation cannot be trusted if it continues to operate in the shadows.

This building is believed to contain the north London headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood. (Randi Sokoloff / The National)

The Muslim Brotherhood has been effectively put on notice in the United Kingdom. As The National reported yesterday, security expert Lorenzo Vidino said the UK government would fall short of banning the group as a result of a review into its activities. But, he added, it held the view that the Brotherhood "for the most part does not pursue interests that are aligned with those of the British government". It is a view that is shared by many people in this region and beyond who, rightly, see the Brotherhood as a disruptive and dangerous influence.

The recent history of the group makes it quite clear that the Brotherhood is at odds with mainstream Muslim opinion and society. Its affiliates have long agitated from outside the halls of government, targeting community groups, schools and mosques with twisted Islamist teachings. In Libya, it has funded and enabled terror. Given the chance to rule in Egypt, Mohamed Morsi and his cohorts were so divisive and destructive that they had to be removed from office.

While the UK government has concluded that the Brotherhood is not in the same category as groups such as Al Qaeda, that is hardly a ringing endorsement. According to Mr Vidino, who is assisting the government inquiry under Sir John Jenkins, UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Britain intends to “reduce the space” occupied by the Brotherhood and acknowledge that it was a mistake to believe the group represented the broader Muslim community.

The important challenge in the UK and elsewhere is to unravel the maze of organisations, some of them of dubious legal provenance, behind which the Brotherhood operates. It is believed there are as many as 60 organisations, some of them posing as charities and think tanks, across the world that feed into the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood has a deliberately shrouded history. If it has nothing to hide, it should be upfront and transparent about the way it operates and what its goals are. Until then, we can only assume that its intentions are not pure.